I have been working on the Navajo reservation for 765 days (sounds like an incredibly long time doesn't it?). Which equals out to 25 months or in other words-a little over 2 years.
I lived on the Navajo reservation for 10 of those 25 months. The rest of the time I've lived in a little town just outside of the reservation.
I've learned a lot about the culture but you know what I haven't learned? The language. Not even a little bit. I know just one or two words. Which doesn't hurt me in my job since I would say that 90% of our kids don't speak Navajo either. And the 10% that may speak some, still speak English. So learning this incredibly difficult language hasn't been on the top of my to-do list.
Nonetheless, I have picked up on a few words as I've spent time here. Like yaht (I don't know how to actually spell the word, just say it).
Guess what yaht means? Lice. And guess who spent all yesterday afternoon combing yaht out of student's hair? Me. I don't know how it falls under the counseling duties but I guess it's necessary for their overall health so maybe we could tie it in somehow.
Still...I'm wishing that yaht was a word I didn't know. Actually I'm wishing that yaht was a word that didn't even exist because there was no word for it.
1 comment:
yuck! We all got lice one year and it was a nightmare for my mom. She had to pick them out of our hair, use those chemicals, wash everything and put pillows, stuffed toys ect in garbage bags to seal off the air and kill them. What an ordeal! Hope you don't get it.
I think Navajo is like Hawaiian. They are both dying languages, which is kind of sad.
25 months is far too long!
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