am i still allowed to blog?

hi everyone. some of you may not remember me... i am a blogger from back in the days. old school they call it. but i will reintroduce myself so that all our new readers may catch up.

my name is madlene and i moved to armenia from los angeles over four years ago. my love affair began with armenia ten years ago when i first visited through the land and culture. since then, armenia became a passion, and i am proud to say that it still a passion... perhaps in a more grounded way.

i wrote on this blog for a few years when i first moved to armenia. i felt so much love, patriotism and passion for each day i lived that i had so much to share with the thousands of armenians in the diaspora who dream of moving to the motherland but for some reason or another cannot. i filled my pages with events, reality, dreams and examples of how i was blending into a society that i felt i was a part of by heritage but found i had vast differences with... (some differences i was sad to own and some i was proud to own)

as the years passed, i stopped blogging because i felt that i had fallen into the lifestyle so deeply that i should pass my place to someone who was new, who would share with you new discoveries and that virgin love for the homeland. i felt that i had shared my first few years and now i was ready to experience a time of inner realization and adjustment. like a student, it was a time to listen and not to talk.

during this time i was relieved to find our country's profound potential. potential for change, yet elements of preservation. potential for a quality of life that i have not found in all of my travels. although i believe armenia is politically unhealthy with major problems, i see the light through the younger generation, the bond and commitment of family. the eagerness to improve life and social and political conditions and the continuing relationship with culture and the arts.

this of course was the breeze needed to push me to write again. today i sit in los angeles (a visit to my family) reflecting on my experiences in armenia and i feel compelled to write. i want to write because i want to share my perceptions with you. i want all of you to know that i moved to armenia over four years ago, and am safe in saying that i have learned about the country and our people well... and i do not for one second regret my move. i want you to know that when people here in los angeles ask me what i am doing there... or if i am happy there... i look at them and am almost sad that they do not truly know ... armenian life... our daily highs and our daily lows...for if they did... they would be with me in the motherland. i want to express this all to you and i hope over time i will be able to.

because this log is already too long i will save more information about me for later. thanks for reading and i am happy to be with you all again.