I am a bunch of things but in the end, Canadian. 🙂

Well, so here’s the thing, I’m an immigrant to Canada. I came here in 1996 from a small country called Uzbekistan. Uzbekistan is south of Russia. That’s where I was born. In terms of my background, it’s always hard to answer that, to be honest. So my Mom and my Dad are Armenian, so I guess ethnically that is the right term. Anyway, my background is Armenian.

I was born in Uzbekistan and I grew up actually speaking Russian. So Uzbekistan used to be a communist country, but for a long time, and so I grew up in a Russian neighborhood. I spoke Russian. I don’t actually even speak Armenian.

By the way, side note, Armenian people like the Kardashians, Cher, and the tennis player Andre Agassi.

I’m from Uzbekistan, I’m Armenian, and I speak Russian, but really I consider myself just Canadian. I’ve lived in Canada for, over 20 years now. I came here in ’96. I’m proud to be Canadian. It’s weird. I don’t know if any of you struggled with this, but for me definitely identity was a hard thing. When I was younger, I would try to hang out with Armenian people, but because I didn’t speak Armenian, it was kind of awkward. They would ask me, “Well, why don’t you speak Armenian? Why didn’t your mom teach you?”

Definitely never identified myself as Uzbeki or well, that’s what you would say or call them, and I never considered myself Russian. So I’m grateful that when I came to Canada I learned to find an identity within myself as a Canadian, as someone who loves people, loves helping people. Definitely a long answer, but a little bit of background on me. It’s a hard one… “What is your background?” The simplest answer is, I am Canadian.

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Welcome to the family 🙂

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