Returning From an Absurdly Long yet Highly Typical Break..

So guess what?

I've been having one of THE best summers of my life so far! Why? Because I was lucky enough to live in West Vancouver, BC, for the past two months! It doesn't sound that exciting, and probably wouldn't be to most people, including myself, but it totally was. Why (haha I ask that a lot a guess)? Because I got to live in the wealthiest part of Vancouver- the elite West region, where only the top of the top can afford to venture into. Have you ever heard of Lugaro Jewelers? It's one of leading Jewelry companies in all of Canada. And my uncle is the founder of it. So he makes a heck of a lot of dough, which any relative of his, whether by blood or by law, is extremely fortunate enough to enjoy when with him.

Basically, the past eight weeks have been incredible. I have had the opportunity to dine at the very classiest of restaurants in Vancouver, drive in some of the most expensive cars in BC, and spend a crapload of moolah on clothes I would never dream of even glancing at back in my home in the States. It's been unbelieveable, absolutely incredible, this experience. And though I went through some bad days of the fifty or so I had in WestVan, I truly am a believer now of the saying that money can buy happiness. Or at least, it's an epic contributer to it.

But please, please, PLEASE do not think that I have acted as a complete brat in the past two months, taking the large amount of money I was given and not being grateful for it. My extended vacation was divided into two complete parallels: if I wasn't shopping with cousins in the gorgeously decorated boutiques around me, I was playing a huge role in the growing Armenian community that represented all of Vancouver. I spent two weeks being a counselor for an Armenian dance camp, doing everything from cooking the ridiculously complicated meals for the children to creating newsletters, designing t-shirts, and making calls for the camp itself. Immediately after that, I teamed up with my three older cousins to help form HYBC, or Hye Youth of British Columbia, an Armenian youth group in Vancouver that had a purpose of joing all of Vancouver's Armenian youth together in order for them to become friends and form strong relationships, thus strengthening the alarmingly fast rate of Armenians who are drifting off and forgetting to remember their heritage. I hosted and organized one meeting and an impressively successful picnic for the club, and am the offical representative of the Los Angeles Armenian youth group that will correspond with HYBC to help our long-distance relationship with each other not falter. Truth be told, as pleasureable and relaxing many of my days were in Vancouver, an even larger margin of them were spent enduring these exhausting but rewarding days of helping out the Armenian community in Vancouver as much as I can.

Well, now I am finally back in the states. Day 3, officially. I spent all of yesterday staring at the walls, mindlessly playing on the internet, and watching as much tv as I could without being criticized as a couch potato (something I dream to be, haha). In a few hours, I have to tutor a seven year old with ADD, and then tonight I'm planning to see a movie with one of my best friends, whom I obviously haven't seen in ages. Hopefully, today will be a pleasant day.

I have so much more to say, but I have to stop, since I need to get some shut-eye.

Until next time....

-alyS<3