The Kazakh Kid

What I Am Missing

2010-01-04T07:29:00.001-08:00

While we are still in Kazakhstan I'm starting to miss things like:

English: People here speak Russian and it's kind of hard to converse with them but we do like when we were at the Doner Cafe and we asked it was cow in the hamburger so we went "Moo" a lot and they finally got it.

Clean Water: That is a biggie. Here water isn't filtered like in the USA. We just buy 5 liter bottles from the market and so far it has been good.

Clay: Last but not least I am missing my friend Clay. He called me once bit I can't call him because it is a dollar a minute and we can't afford it.

Over all, I think I can live without these (except the last one) but I am OK.

Ghengis Khan, My Ancestor

2010-01-04T06:42:00.000-08:00

Ghengis Khan was perhaps the world's greatest conqueror. He was the man who managed to pull the Mongols together and take over half the world.

It all started with a young boy named Temujin which means "iron". Temujin and his dad were tracking a horse. When they found the horse it was with another tribe's horses. It was a tribe they had never seen before, so they went in and had supper while his dad managed to score a good wife there for Temujin. After that his dad wanted Temujin to get acquainted with his new wife, so his dad went back to the tribe but the next day his dad was found dead in an enemy camp.

Later Temujin took his fathers place in the camp. Most of his people left him, only a few people stayed. Then one night raiders raided his camp and drove the herds away. Temujin and the children fled to a mountain, where the girls and younger children stayed in a cave. Temujin and his older brother went in different directions. Temujin went into a forest where he hid for three days and three nights, then he came out and was taken prisoner. Temujin was then put in a stock. When the tribe had a feast, Temujin pushed with all of his force into the guards head and killed the guard. Then he ran. When the tribe realized what had happened they raced to find Temujin. Temujin knew that the tribe was coming so he jumped in a lake and breathed through a stick straw.

Years after, Temujin grew stronger every year but there were still some tribes left. Those tribes were raided one by one. The last one he tricked into coming to his side, then he was given the name Ghengis Khan which meant "Khan to the Sea". Then all at once all the Mongols were united under one yurt.

Ghengis Khan started conquering Persian cities, one by one they fell, taking over a good portion of China, Russian, Afghanistan and even some of Europe. It was at the Khan's highest peak when he died, and his empire started crumbling. They say that the great Khan's body lies in an orchard of trees somewhere, but no one knows.

Ghengis Khan built a huge empire, far more powerful than any other one in his time. Ghengis Khan thought he was an instrument of the heavens, and that his tornado-like army was the best in all of Persia...and it was.

Just Don't Leave Me Behind!

2009-12-29T01:51:00.000-08:00

Matthew wrote a fiction piece of his choosing:

“Hey Joe come here!”

“Why?”

“Look at that blue moon!”

“Wow!”

“I wonder if that means something? Let’s go look to see if we can get a better view.”

“OK”

“Andy, don’t leave me behind!”

“OK”

“But beware of the snakes.”

“Who said that?”

“I did.”

“Who is that?”

“Me, Barney.”

“Oh…want to join us?”

“Sure!”

“Why do you say that about snakes, Barney?”

“Because there’s snakes and I hate snakes!”

Meanwhile, Andy, Barney and Joe went out to get a better view until one of them tripped on a trap and he fell. The other two grabbed on to him but they all fell into the trap, but mysteriously there was a door leading out so they took it and they ended up in a room full of masks, candles and weapons.

There were three doors but they had symbols above each of them. One was a skull and cross bones, another was a picture of stairs, and the last one was two letters which said “WC” which means “Water Closet” and Andy really had to go so he went, then they went in the middle one with stairs. They went up about 32 flights with 20 stairs a flight so it took them a long time.

When they were up there was a river with a boat so they got in the boat and started paddling down the river. There was a pyramid. They thought they could get a good view there when they were at the top of the pyramid. The moon casted a shadow that looked like a dragon on the top of the pyramid.

“I wonder what that means?”

“Let’s go look around.”

“OK”

“Just don’t leave me behind!!”

What I Have Learned

2009-12-21T05:58:00.000-08:00

I bet the girls are feeling pretty hopeful that they are probably going to get a family and be in America in a few months. Maybe even happy to get brothers too!

If you think about how much we’ve learned on the trip, we’ve learned a lot such as patience is the answer, God’s path may be hard but try as hard as you can to stay on it. Third of all, forgiveness may be hard but try to forgive as much as you can, because God told us to forgive and forgiveness leads to happiness and love and joy. Fourth, courage is very hard but YOU can do it. These are all things Angela and Olesya mostly did and they are only 11 and 9 years old.

Today I think it went well. We were all decorating like putting up the tree and metallic streamers, garland and stockings, banners and snowman, lights and stars. When we were putting up the Christmas decorations we were trying to get the best things. Angela, Olesya and I were putting up the tree. Olesya, Irina and Kenny were putting up the metallic streamers…and Josh was off playing superheroes. I think all of this will go well.

2009-12-19T03:53:00.001-08:00

Matthew on Wednesday

Today we are going to visit the girls and I hope today that the girls will not act snotty and mean like she did the first few days. This is what I hope to see out of Angela: Nice, laughing, smiling, giggling, etc. Why we didn’t leave Kazakhstan was Angela called on her friend’s cell phone to talk to Irina so she could tell us that she was wrong and that kind of stuff.
So Mom and Dad are going to go comfort the girls and we are just taking things one day at a time.

Matthew on Saturday

When we saw the girls we brought them to our apartment to play. First we decorated the apartment with window clingers which was kind of fun for all of us because when they didn’t stick we punched them on and Mom was saying “Put water on it to make it stick!”. When that was done we colored with glitter glue, then we ran around trying to “taze” our translator, Irina, with a Lego Tazer we made.

After that we ate lunch with salami, chicken, bread, tomatoes, cheese, and juice. When that was done we played more games.

Today was a really fun day. Angela played with us today and she asked if she could stay longer, which I think is a good sign for us.

The day before was a lot like today…fun, smileful…but we were mostly looking at a Russian to English book which was full of colored pictures. I felt good yesterday, but today I feel great and I hope they are feeling great too because then we can be a GREAT big happy family!!

What Happened

2009-12-14T23:39:00.001-08:00

After we went home from the orphanage yesterday we all started crying and we had a big talk about if we should go home or stay here and look at other kids. We all decided to sleep on it.

The reason we didn’t bring home the girls is Angela didn’t like me, I think that she was in competition with me and she totally rejected me. (From Mom: Interesting what comes out in writing, we will be having a long conversation about this thought he has internalized). Olesya on the other hand liked us and we went to the Doner Café with her and she played with us. It was pretty fun for all of us.

When we were talking to the Assistant Director we told her that we didn’t think the girls were a match then we gave reasons. I feel sad that the girls are not coming home.

Hi to Friends!

2009-12-10T22:00:00.001-08:00

Dear friends,

I would like to address some people in Montrose and tell them how we are doing.

Dear Mr. Steve,

There is not much wood here, so you wouldn't do well with your shop. And it is too cold. We miss you! Tell Ms. Jane "Hi".

Dear Vincents,

To Zacky: There is a kid named Yannik and he likes to play superheroes, so I think you might like him, but he lives in Canada. Tell your mom it is barbaric with no way to hear Michael Jackson. Give Shae a hug. And tell your dad hi.

Dear Tony,

How is your school work going? Have you gone swimming without me? Did Subway get any new types of foot longs? Miss you!

Dear Pastor Karen,

Thanks for visiting my blog. Tell the ladies who sit in front of us to try not to take our pew!!

Dear Jeannie,

Daddy told me you're sick. I hope you feel better.

Love,
Matthew

Fiction - Ben's Dream

2009-12-10T21:52:00.000-08:00

"Ben, wake up...wake up! We're losing altitude fast, get your mask on!"

"What happened?"

"The wings iced up!"

"Oh, that's bad!"

The next day Ben found himself alone. He did not know where he was, but he was sure he wasn't in Hawaaii. A storm was coming so Ben thought fast. He started digging in the snow. He dug for a few hours, then the hole was big enough for him to hit in. Ben went to look for a lake or something to find food in. Then Ben thought about his pocket knife, but that had been confiscated by the airport security. He remembered that he had lunch on the plane with a fork, spoon and plastic knife. If he could get one of those knives then he could eat, but he was surrounded by mountains. What should he do?

He did this...he said "If I want to live, I need to do this." so he went looking for the plane. He was thinking that the plane was over that slope. Then the storm started to hit and Ben started to dig in a slope but it was too late, it dropped 5 degrees...then 10 degrees...then it was minus 20 degrees Farenheit. It was getting cold, dark, the wind was blowing from all directions.

Then... "Ben! Ben! It's time time to wake up! You dozed off for the last 10 minutes!"

Ben looked outside and a storm was coming...

Smiles

2009-12-09T21:01:00.001-08:00

When we saw the girls yesterday we played Uno with them. When we were playing we tried to make them smile but they were trying hard not to smile. After the visit we had a family conversation about the girls not smiling and about how they might not want to come home with us. I think Olesya is smiling but when Angela is around she tried not to.

Ice Breaking

2009-12-08T20:37:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we saw the girls and at first they were doing well and they brought us to Boris. Then Irina came (our translator), took mom and the girls to Turkistan and then later Dad and us where there were all these places to play. Olesya was OK but then Angela was walking by herself. I went to her and asked if she was OK but she couldn't understand me. Then Mom wanted to talk to both of them while Kenny, Josh and I were off playing tag.

After the talk Mom said that their teacher and friends are wanting her to stay which made me kind of mad because after the orphanage they will just get kicked and be alone by theirselves. I am scared that the girls might stay behind, but it is their decision.

In Kazakhstan

2009-12-06T20:25:00.001-08:00

We are in Kazakhstan right now and it seems that people look at us and it is normal. But these people are from my culture and I sometimes wonder if I will grow up to be like that man or that one over there or if I’ll be tall or short. People here are like regular people, some attractive and some not but I think their pretty attractive and disciplined.

I feel more American than Kazakh because my home is in America and my language is English. I also have all my friends and belongings. When I go to Kazakhstan I feel as if I am in a crowd of people I don’t know and I’m just visiting.

So far I have enjoyed the trip because all we have done is fly, sleep and play. It’s kinda boring when that’s all you do for five days but it’s going pretty well. All the long flights have TV’s in the back and all the short flights you can see out the window so life is good.

What does it feel like?

2009-12-01T12:24:00.000-08:00

Right now I'm kinda scared to go to Kazakhstan because I know Kazakhstanis will ask me a lot of questions in Russina and there will be a bunch of people looking at me. Because I have two Caucasian parents and there are three Asian kids, which probably means they keep their eyes on us until we are out of sight. They will probably think "what in the world are they doing here?".

I'm going to be OK with the Christmas situation because we already told Sana to leave the presents at our house. I think it will be a good experience for us all for Christmas. Even if I don't get any presents I'll still be happy.

It's feeling great about getting sisters. I have never met them but I think they are going to be nice and caring and loving sisters.

An orphanage, to me, it's nothing but a building. Maybe to Kenny or the girls it's something different from a building. Maybe to them it's a home or maybe not. I don't have much feeling for concrete buildings, but they may.

When I get on the plane I'll be excited because the take off is the best part...and don't forget air pockets. I've been on so many airplanes the altitude doesn't bother me at all!

Custer's Last Stand - A Good Book!

2009-11-23T22:38:00.000-08:00

I read a book about George Armstrong Custer . Did you ever read the book named Custer’s Last Stand? If you didn’t let me tell you about it.

George Armstrong Custer was born on December 5, 1839, he lived in the little town of New Rumley, Ohio. His dad was the head of the “New Rumley Invincibles” which were the militia for their town . Custer wanted to become a General and fight Indians ever since he was four. Custer’s nick name was Autie . No one knows why his parents called him Autie but that name just stuck with him for the rest of his life.

Autie never liked school very much, he loved to play in the forest with his gun and fight pretend Indians. Ten years later Autie was going to school and his principle wanted to talk to him about becoming a school teacher so he could get extra study time for West Point. Then he could pass the tests at West Point. So Autie became a teacher for a few years then he mailed a letter to a local congressman but he was turned down. The congressman had already picked a person from his area to go to West Point.

A year later he was approved to go to West Point by the congressman to become a General at West Point .

When Autie was in his third year at West Point his friends were talking about a war between the States. Autie didn’t really think it would happen, but it did during Autie’s fourth year. Because Autie left West Point early he never did become a General!

Autie was sent to Washington to be assigned were to go, so Autie left to help the 7th Cavalry Divison. Autie just kept winning battles. Soon the Seventh Division became popular, then the war was over.

Autie returned home and married a girl named Elizabeth Bacon. Autie was sent to a fort to guard against Indians then he was to report to Washington to become a General. After that he was to go back to the fort. Autie was then sent to go the Black Hills on a gold expedition but first he needed to clear the Indians of the area. So the 7th Divison tried but they were all killed, including George Armstrong Custer.

The End

The Little LaJoys

2009-10-13T13:27:00.000-07:00

Hi my name is Matthew!! You probably know my "blog momma" (CINDY LAJOY )if you read her blog you know we're getting two sisters this year.

I have two brothers Kenny and Josh.

My brothers are pretty cool cats, they love to play superheros and watch T.V

when our mom lets them. Their favorite shows are, AVATAR THE LAST AIRBENDER and BEN 10. They also like to play outside, ride bikes, play on the trampoline, ride scooters and play in our dirt barrel.

One of their names is KENNY TOKTOGUL LAJOY (he will turn eleven on November15/2009)and then JOSHUA AARON LAJOY (will turn seven on December 26/2009).

I'm MATTHEW RYAN LAJOY (I will turn eleven on June 12/2010). But here's what you don't know, I like playing LEGOS SO MUCH they cannot keep me away from those plastic things! I build with those things so much they're wearing out. I build planes and boats and don't forget helicopters. That's not all I do, I ride my bike, I jump on the trampoline I also play laser tag with my friends all outside. When I'm inside I sometimes play on the computer (like I'm not right now) I usually play strategy games like Stronghold Crusader or AGE OF EMPIRES III. So I guess you know what the little kids do!!!