The visitors for the Belarus program arrived on Friday, February 21 and will return home on March 1. The subject of their visit is cultural heritage, including language of each country, Lithuania and Belarus.
To start their Saturday with the host families (thank you Casey Woods, Bill and Anita Jones and Tom and Thea Chester along with Pat and Greg Watson) was a day for a variety of different activities for the visitors, some shopping, some sight seeing and one going to a U of A basketball game! They started the day out at Colossal Cave which they truly enjoyed.
Sunday was a trip to the Desert Museum followed in the evening with a trip to Trail Dust Town and watching the Pistolaros and their skits. The visitors said they really enjoyed it since there is nothing even close to this in Lithuania!
With Belarus being in the conflict it is the visitors all currently live in Lithuania with the Embassy preparing the program.
As some of you remember, the ambassador from Belarus (Julie Fisher) spoke with us on World Watch a while ago. Serving as the ambassador for a country you aren’t allowed to enter was a challenge for her since the embassy in Belarus was closed down so Ambassador Fisher spoke with us from Lithuania. There is an article about her talk in another location on this site.
The balance of the week will be filled with exploring different cultural heritage sites such as Fort Lowell, the Casa Grande Ruins, San Xavier Mission, the Tohono O’odham reservation, The Amerind Museum, the Presidio Sa Agustin del Tucson Museum, the historic Matis-Meza House and the Pima County Historic Courthouse. That, and of course shopping, the mixer on Wednesday evening at 5 at Monterey Court Cafe and the wrap up dinner on Thursday at Opa’s will be remembered for years to come by the visitors, those they met with and the hosts.