Saludos! (Greetings!) My name is Vasken Markarian and I am writing to you from the town of Antigua in the country of Guatemala. Antigua means ancient, and that is exactly right, this town is very old. It even has some very old volcanoes that are still active!
Can I tell you a little bit about myself? I am not as old as the volcanoes. I am only 29 years old, and I come from Queens, New York! New York is a very big city in this world! There are lots of skyscrapers and over eight million people living in this city. My family lives in New York too. I have one brother who is a police officer. But I am different from my brother. I like to read a lot of books. I want to become a teacher. I want to teach history because I think it is important to know the story of where you came from!
Just like I am sure you all have interesting family histories, I have one too. I have an Armenian heritage. That means that my family originally came from the country of Armenia and speaks Armenian. Armenia is in the Middle East. It is right next to the countries of Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran, and Turkey. But here is the big surprise! None of my family members ever lived in Armenia! My mom was born in Sudan, and my dad was born in Egypt.
