“Where is the mother of the chicken?”
 

Today was one of the best flights I was going to have despite some negative feedback received from the crew who have done this flight before.

Some said that you have to keep a cautious eye for safety and passengers on this flight are going to be the rudest ones. “Oh I hate that flight!” some would pout at the sight of this destination on their rosters. Besides, I have heard these exaggerations before. Sometimes, flights that are expected to be the worst are the ones that turn out to be excellent. So this was going to be a good day for me.

And so it was. In exchange of a nice big smile for the passengers, I received a straight face, with round big eyes looking directly eye to eye. It was very difficult to move in the cabin.

For instance; if an isle was blocked by a passenger (as they were rather hefty) we did have to walk around, nobody even dared to say excuse me! Even if some did it was just the ignorant face, no positive reverse movement.

Overfilling the tea cup was a tradition of some sort I presumed, for even if the cup was full it appeared to be half empty to them. Yet there was something great about this whole atmosphere. There weren’t any lovely neighbors on this flight! Instead it was a whole new culture lesson, and I loved it!

On this flight some peculiar phrases were used frequently. Instead of “Please” it was “Woman, make yourself useful” or “Man do yourself a favour…” which I found quite an entertaining form of addressing men & women. “ I want to EASE myself!” with a stress and a long pause meant it was a very urgent nature call.

Also aircraft food made their eyes grow wider; as if someone has played a very bad joke. One lady who wore a bright green turban around her head, requested for the chicken meal. My colleague who was double ending the meal cart presented the tray with a smile “Enjoy your chicken Madam!”  The lady in the green turban looked flabbergasted by this.

She stared at her food for a minute and went, “Where is the mother of the Chicken?”, and with this strange response, my colleague answered back “I am afraid this is the chicken you requested for”, in a flash the lady sprang over her forcefully, pushing her down to the ground and sat on her.

The poor girl was struggling to get out; it was not an easy task with her very large bottom resting on her back. “GIVE ME THE MOTHER OF THE CHICKEN NOW!” After much effort from our crew, it was looking like an impossible task to get her up.

Trying to understand what she really meant, I quickly ran into the galley and re-created a meal for her combining 3 normal casseroles. Finally she gave in. After all there is an African saying that “Words are sweet, but they never take the place of food!”

Love, Dany