Coming home

Before leaving Belarus, we went to a stadium. In the center, it had bad-mitten and tennis courts, and around the outside of the courts was a bicycle track. We saw a bunch of cyclists riding very fast on a curved track.

 Connor got a great souvenir.

On the way home

Our week is coming to an end

The week was coming to an end. Someone from the Belarus government interviewed a few of us for one of their local papers.

There were a few more fun competitions in the morning. Things like 3-legged soccer dribble,  ball stretcher carrying, running under the hurdles balancing a tennis ball, and leap frog jumping. These were incredibly fun too.

Team U.S.A.

Later we dressed in our blue blazers (uniforms) to present our newspaper. We had a poster, with a slideshow background. We ended up winning an “informational” award. 

Each of the groups did something very different for their presentations.

Poland

Russia

Kazakhstan

South Korea

Armenia

There was more dancing at night and relaxing with new friends. 

On the left, Delanie and I sang "Belarus Maya" in Russian during the closing ceremonies.

We also had a question and answer session with the Minister. The leaders from each country also were on the stage to answer questions that anyone may have had.

Many of the kids asked David (with Silvia translating) questions (even more than they asked the minister). Questions like: "What kinds of things did your team do to prepare for the program before coming?", or "Did you like having the Belarusians visit you in America?", and "Would you be willing to have more in the future?".
 


Following the program, the adults went to dinner with the minister, while the kids enjoyed fireworks. 

It's going to be hard to say goodbye

Everyone is signing Jordan's shirt

So the competition is almost over. I loved the fact that we could meet kids from all around the world, and make friends that could possibly last a lifetime. I also found it extremely interesting that we could see very famous and well known sights in a different country with a different culture and language. I loved learning about the different cultures and differences of the other kids that were there. 

Sunday morning was time to say goodbye, and give away the last of our U.S. gifts. 

We were completely exhausted, but we had such an amazing time.

 

More Competitions

The next day were some of the physical competitions. Some of these included knot tying, wall jump, balance beam running, downing the uniform, running through a tunnel, and then using the fire hose and pumping. I was the pumper. Trust me, it was crazy hard. 

After some lunch, we went to the fire pit for the international competition. One student from each country was on each team. Here is our USA team, each wearing a different number for the different teams that we were assigned to. Everyone on my team was a Russian speaker, but I was thrilled to see the Russian boy on my team, who spoke a little English. There were 6 different tasks to complete.

Some of the tasks we were given, were to:

1.  Cross a bridge of thin wood while attached to a wire with a harness over the river. Then run through muddy woods, cut a log, then carry a man out on a stretcher.

2.  Throw or swing a weight attached to a rope past a buoy out on the water many times.

My team - Team 2

3.  Run through the woods, put on a uniform, then use a hose from a fire truck to knock basketballs off cones.

4.  Run out to the woods, find 2 victims, administer first aid, then carry them back to where we started the task.

5.  Get in a boat, row out on the water, pick up very heavy gas tanks with hooks from bottom of the flats.

6.  Go through the woods to a smoke filled tent and find 3 victims and carry them out safely (you can’t see anything in the tent). Don't worry, the smoke was non-gaseous and safe.

Each of the teams rotated from one station to the next. We were basically running for 3 hours, and the weather that day was cold and wet. It didn’t matter though because it was so much fun.

 

After dinner, we were working on our newspaper, which we needed to do by the morning. A disco (dance) was the activity for the evening. It was terrific dancing non stop, and hearing some totally new music. We all danced with our new friends.

Presentation and fun times

Young Rescuers USA

We were kept very busy. The next day we went out on a boat ride on Lake Naroch, and it was a perfect ride. We came back to rehearse a bit for our performance. 

After our presentation

Dancing to "Cotton Eye Joe"

Our performance was to happen that night. Our team was to go 11th. Backstage was very busy and exciting. It was our turn. It was such a thrill. We performed in front of hundreds of people. We had a whole skit where we introduced our country and had a slide show showing different scenes of the United States. Then we sang a few songs and danced to some "American" music. We picked "Thriller", "Cotton Eye Joe" and "Surfin' USA". The idea was to represent a little of the culture and different areas of the USA. I also sang the United States National Anthem during the presentation.

Our days at the camp

Team USA is here with the Minister of Belarus

Everyone helped to celebrate Zach and Delanie's birthday, which happened during the week we were there!











Here we are involved in the first Aid competition. We are given points for everything we do right and wrong. We scored pretty well, even beating Russia, which hasn't happened too many times in years past.

Connor putting on a fire suit

Zach is also getting the uniform on as quickly as possible.

Here is Zach and David together.

This is what our dorms looked like. The grounds at the camp were well maintained.

Connor, Arielle, and Jared with Delanie piggy back.

The days at the camp were so amazing. There were so many interesting activities and competitions. For example, there was a National competition going on, and these Belarusian teams were also at the camp. There were many drill teams, who performed for us and they were flawless. It was almost like a movie, since they were so perfectly aligned. Some fireworks for our entertainment, some free time to meet the other students, explore the camp, and even little dances and songs at night at a Bonfire. 

We did Hokey Pokey even though the other teams weren’t really sure what we were doing. A fantastic light show ended the night. It was really easy to make friends.  

The Americans were almost "celebrities". Everyone wanted to meet us and hear us speak English.

Opening Ceremonies

Opening Ceremonies

Officials from Belarus including the Minister

The first day we arrived, each of the teams did a special marching for the officials that were there. There were international teams, and then also a national competition of different regions within Belarus that were part of the opening ceremonies.

We carried our flags, and signs with our countries name on it, like they do in the Olympics.

Belarus and USA team

Delanie, Jared and Arielle (Sign says: United States of America)

Minister of Belarus

Russia

Serbia

Armenia

Latvia

Belarus

Kazakhstan

Azerbaijan

South Korea

Ukraine

Poland in the front

Moldova