Chicken lost in Translation

So I managed to keep track of Chicken up to the point where we took her out of the boot and put her in the shade under the water tank.

I was actually quite sick the day I was given Chicken. Coming down with another nasty African flu, so I had a chat to the gardner about Chicken- that she was a gift and she wasn't fat enough to eat but maybe we could build a house for her in the garden? Then I went to bed.

I woke up around several hours later around 5pm feeling pretty terrible but being responsible for my new pet, I called a neighbour to see if Chicken could stay in their chicken coup (sp?!) til we got a home built for her and headed out with a handful of maize, oats and rice to see if she was peckish ... and she was gone! I wandered around in a post-nap haze half heartedly looking for her for until one of the night guards came and asked what I was searching for. 'A chicken?' I answered with some bewilderment, chastising myself for losing my first African pet in 2 hrs flat. 'Oh, he responded - 'the gardener left with a chicken tied to his bicycle'. Yes, it was still alive.

This was about the point where I wondered whether I have in fact learnt any Ciyawo whatsoever in the past year. Maybe he thought the gift was for him? Maybe he thinks I'm incompetent enough to leave the chicken under the water tank all weekend and he took it home out of mercy to the chicken? My only consolation was that we'd both agreed Chicken wasn't fat enough to eat yet... but it IS hungry season, and if he'd misunderstood the rest...

This morning our garderner came back from his weekend without Chicken. I procrastinated about asking him what happened. I've discovered out here that I'll do just about anything to avoid confrontation and I couldn't really demand her back if she was already eaten could I?!

So, mid morning, after prepping myself with Ciyawo words from the dictionary, I plucked up the courage and went out to ask the question. It went a bit like this:
'Good morning, how are you etc Actually I'm a a bit confused, do you know where my chicken is?'
He almost burst out laughing. I actually didn't understand most of his answer til I was back in reach of my dictionary- but I got the gist. He took Chicken home because there was no where for her to live here. 'So you didn't eat her?' I asked - just to confirm. nope- she's too skinny.