One thing I never thought I would say:

I love Arkansas.

Training is over, and all is well. I get to work with a few groups next week, and my family is going to visit this wonderful place next weekend.

I had a bought of homesickness in the middle of the week, and thought that things were going to get rough. My birthday is this weekend, and it's my first birthday away from home, so I was having a hard time handling that. But I think it's one of those things where I just had to cry once, and then it's done. Today was a happy day, and tonight was a happy night.

All of the volunteers had a camp fire tonight. We sing, we share stories, we play bonding games... it's a lot of fun. We did this cool thing where we went around the circle and described one scar we had, and how we got it. It sounds silly, but you really learn a lot about people's backgrounds from it. I really do enjoy the people here. Sometimes I feel like the black sheep, but then we get to talking about music or video games and everybody comes together, and it's wonderful. Unlike that last sentence. Horrible grammar, but that doesn't matter in the blogosphere. Lolz.

Tonight is beautiful, though. There isn't a cloud in the sky, the stars are shining brightly, and the moon is a golden yellow. You can hear the peepers in the bottoms by the Fourche river (which runs through the property) singing their little symphony. It's a perfect night.

The ranch also had its first kidding of the season today. Two twins were born, and they are just adorable. I had never seen a baby goat before, and their tails are just to die for. It is so hard to not pet them or hold them, but they are cute enough that I could watch them for hours. We will have several kids born in the next month or two, and after that the lambing begins. It should be an exciting and amazing time! :)

One more thing before I head off to bed. I've found that I love getting mail the past few weeks, and would highly encourage any of you to send me a line. I will gladly write a few back, and maybe even send a heifer ranch care package (which my friend Ruben received this week.) So, in order to do that... here is my address.

Erika Lewis
Heifer Ranch
55 Heifer Road
Perryville, Arkansas 72126

Good night, y'all. I'm volunteering in the kitchen tomorrow morning in order to fanangle some free breakfast, so I need to turn in. Love and good thoughts-

Erika

The drawl just starts to come out.

Moving to Arkansas, my greatest fear was that my accent would start to come out. I was happy to learn that my housemates were from all over- Kansas, Oregon, and New Jersey- thinking that this would mean that my southern drawl would remain to a minimum, and i could retain my perfect Missouri accent. But just now I said to myself "well. . . " and it came out sounding like "whale. . ." (Think Joyce Sherrell's trademark "Well, Shit" well.)

That is all beside the point, though. I'm not in Arkansas to become an Arkansan (the correct term, I've learned.) I'm in Arkansas to help an organization complete their mission to end pOVERty (it's nicer to write it that way) and world hunger. The past week I've been experiencing the ranch to learn more about that mission.

Wednesday night I spent the night in the global village, an educational tool we use to help visitors better understand the challenge we face in the fight against pOVERty and world hunger. We met in the Global Village barn, and discussed our communities, houses, and diets with each other. We shared our motivations in life and the items we couldn't live without. This, of course, was to make us realize what we have and then compare it to what the families we were going to be living as have. We then discussed the population distribution around the world, and then the personal consumption those areas had. In case you can't see, the areas are North America, Latin America (Central America and South America), Europe (including Russia), Africa, Asia, and Oceana (includes Australia. I felt really silly when I saw this. Our five percent of the population accounts for 32 percent of personal consumption. I figured it would be something like this, but I guess just seeing it all written down made it finally kick me in the head. After our little talk, we broke up into families- I got put in Appalachia for the night (pronounced apple-atchya, I've learned.) I also discovered that I was pregnant, and thus was unable to help with most chores for the evening. My family made it up to our house, and discovered that we had a little problem- the father of the family had always worked in the coal mines, and was starting to get black lung. He could either keep his job and get sick, or quit and try to find work elsewhere. We decided to save our daddy and give up some of our resources (We only had a few potatoes) to save him. Luckily being in the mountains, we had all of the rights to the firewood for the night, so the other villages had to come to us if they wanted to do any cooking. Unfortunately Guatemala had all of the access to the water, so we had to think of a way to coax that family to give us some. Over half of the volunteers here are returning volunteers, so they knew from previous experiences that if we all came together, we could cook a pretty substantial meal. And actually, we cooked an amazing meal over two fires. We had rice, a vegetable stir-fry, corn cakes, and even some illegal s'mores. My baby, J'Kwon (a water balloon in a pounch around my tummy) did not make it through the night. I couldn't keep my distance from the fire, and he got overheated. Other babies froze to death, and some were simply neglected by their parents. After our meal we hiked back up to Appalachia, one of the few enclosed homes, and went to bed. It just happened to be the coldest night of the week, and I froze and tried to will myself to sleep. I was thinking how hard it would be to be in that little shack- one room for the entire family- and in school. Dad would be trying to sleep because he had to get up at 3 in the morning to go to work, Mom would be exhausted, and I would be cold and trying to work on my schoolwork while trying not to keep everyone up. It'd be hard to succeed or even concentrate if you were that cold or hungry.

The next day I woke up not feeling so well, as you can imagine. But as the day wore on I soon discovered that I had a bit of a stomach bug, and thus decided to skip out on the high ropes course. I slept and recooperated, and then woke up Saturday morning for CPR/ First-Aid certification. That was a bit of a scary thing, realizing that I could be faced with an emergency situation here. But I feel a lot better after going through the course and talking with the staff members about their past experiences here, and what they did in certain situations.

Yesterday I went to a flea market where I purchased two pairs of pants, a book, and some glasses all for under eight dollars. It was a fun trip, and took up about two hours of the day. I also played some sand volleyball, which I know many of you will find hard to believe. I'm not saying I did well... but I did play and have a lot of fun. Arcadia, my roommate, and I hung out all night watching dvd's and reading, then went on a midnight drive through the Ouachita National Forest that is part of the ranch. It's really beautiful here, with the mountains surrounding us the pine trees everywhere. Today my tummy started to hurt again, so I opted out of a hiking trip. After a nap I felt better though, so I broke out a rake and cleaned out the flower beds out front. We already have some bulbs getting ready to bloom, and I'm pretty excited about it. I did some housework and made some dinner, then set down and watched some shows with my little house family. Life on the ranch may not be the most exciting, but it is definitely cozy and happy. I've only been here a week and it already feels like my home.

I need to head out and stop boring you with my writing. I have training to get to in the morning. But I will leave you with this:

It’s better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a pig satisfied.

When I packed up my little blue Focus Saturday morning I really had no idea what I was getting myself into. I pictured a slightly boring ranch populated by retired southerners and ordinary scenery. Luckily I pulled up to this gorgeous ranch nestled between a river and mountains, and found a bunch of energetic twenty-somethings in my front yard. (Which is pictured to the left.) This place is pretty amazing. The first two days I was pretty overwhelmed; most of the volunteers have been here since September, so I was thrown into their established social scene. They were all extremely nice, it was just a lot to take in at first. Sunday I just kind of kept to myself and explored the ranch. The goats and ewes are all pregnant, fat and funny. I really like watching them run about their pastures- they're quite entertaining. That night I decided to be social and made brownies to take the superbowl party. That was a lot of fun- we all made bets about who we thought would win, and the losers had to do dares that we put into a pot. I was smart enough not to side with the Cardinals, so I didn't have to kiss a pig or camel.

Monday the training started, and it is extremely intense. They've taken us on a tour of the ranch, we've met every staff member there is, and we've had to sit through hours of orientation material. It's a little tedious, but the people really do make it worth it.Speaking of people, I have four housemates. Al and Mary Ann were the first I met. They're a retired couple from Kansas- Al used to be an Agriculture professor. They're really sweet and interesting. I didn't know such things as electric yogurt makers existed until I met them. Arcadia is my roommate (she's eating the Ramen.) She just graduated from high school in Portland and has spent the past couple of months traveling Peru. Lauren was the last house mate to show up, and she's a returning volunteer. She seems to be a lot of fun, but I haven't been able to spend much time with her yet. Tonight we all went to Jacob, a staff member's house for a Potluck/ get together. We played music and sang together, and played some really hilarious games. I even got to hear a very hilarious rendition of Queen's "We Will Rock You" by one of the German volunteers here. Really, I wish I would have had a camera. I haven't laughed as much as I did tonight in a long time.

Tomorrow is the big day of the week- we're doing a low ropes course, then spending the night in the Global village as part of the Global Challenge program. It will be cold, but I think it will be a lot of fun. Thursday morning we hit the high ropes course, and then continue with our training. After training Friday we get to take a trip to Little Rock to visit headquarters, and I'm really excited about that. The building looks pretty amazing in pictures, so I can't wait to see it in person.

I've got a big day to prepare for, so I'm off to go to bed. I send you all my love, and thank you for all of the thoughts and prayers I know you've been sending my way. I have a good feeling about this experience- there aren't any real doubts or regrets in my head, as there were last time I embarked on an adventure. I know that with the support system back home and the one I'm building here I'll be just fine.

First Post: Explanation.

Hellloooo! I'm sure if you're reading this, you already know me. You know my family, my genetic history, you probably even know what I ate for dinner last Thursday because your aunt's cousin's boyfriend served it to me at a local restaurant (Just kidding- I was out town last Thursday. Got ya!). But just in case you don't, this post is for you.

My name's Erika. Right now I live in a small town in the middle of Missouri. I say right now, because soon- say eighteen days soon- I will be moving to a small town in the middle of Arkansas. I told one friend this news, and he said "Erika, I know you need to get out of Missouri, but that's a weird angle to do it." And yes, yes it is. But I'm not moving to Arkansas for Arkansas (really, who would?) I'm moving to Arkansas to volunteer for the non-profit organization Heifer International. I will be working as a Global Passport Volunteer which, according to their job listing, is:

A Global Passport volunteer position is perfect for a dynamic, dedicated person who enjoys working with diverse groups of people. GP volunteers will help high school and college students expand their horizons regarding hunger and poverty through a unique program. The GP volunteer will be responsible for facilitating a multi-night program in an outdoor, experiential learning setting.

Basically I'm leading a program to raise awareness through leadership and team building exercises. It may not sound like the most exciting thing, the most exotic thing, but to me it is. It's extremely exciting and terrifying and new. Let me clarify why:
Last May I graduated from high school. I had dreams like every other graduate, and expected to get them the ordinary way. I would go to college for four years, maybe for a few more to grab another piece of paper or two, and enter the work force. So fall came, and I traversed up to Kansas City. I thought I would find amazing people, amazing books, and have a blast. The only thing I really found: amazing Krispy Kremes were only five minutes away.

So I moved back home. It wasn't the easiest thing to do, and definitely not the most glamorous, but I did it anyways. I moved back, and decided that instead of moping and being a lazy bum (which I sometimes still do. I will not deny it!) I would get involved. So while I was waiting to get back on the schedule at Staples I threw myself into a very inspiring political campaign. (I guess now that the election is over, I can go ahead and say it--- Despite my resemblance to Sarah Palin, I worked for the Obama campaign. And I loved every minute of it.) I would walk miles of neighborhoods everyday, and met hundreds of amazing people ( and a few grumpy ones.) They all gave me hope in my community, and taught me that I am more than just a college drop out. They introduced an entirely different, exciting world to me: Politics and non-profits. There is no doubt that I would have considered doing something like I am now, but I don't think I could have the guts to follow through without having met them.
So that leads me to now. I'm sitting in bed, wearing my penguin pajamas that I wear almost nightly -almost!- and am wrapping up the past few months of my life. It all sounds so neat and easy when I just type it out like that, but it definitely wasn't. Luckily I was born into an extremely loving, supportive, and accepting family. They didn't ask any questions when I called sobbing, asking to be picked up from Kansas City one night. They didn't have any hesitations in letting me move back, interruping the daily flow they had just learned. And now that I'm about to venture off on a new journey, they've been nothing but supportive. Sure, my father jokes "It's about time you left." but I know that he'll miss me. I also know that he's somewhat proud and excited- especially when I caught him reading World Ark, Heifer's monthly publication, before his nightly nap tonight. It was almost sweet enough to make my eyes misty.

-Erika.