An Anecdote

Arriving in Olomouc I think most of us students were excited to learn that we get to sleep in the Palacky University dormitories. Until someone pointed out that no bath towels were laying await on our beds, as they had been in the hotel in Hradec. So Hetty and I went on a mission to locate towels (but it was a Sunday evening so our hopes were not high).

Luckily, the secretary was still in the downstairs office. Unluckily, she spoke no English. We attempted Joe's technique of pantomiming our problem and, thinking she understood, the three of us traveled down through locked doors to the underworkings of the dormitory. We reached a final door which the secretary unlocked and opened with a flourish, revealing...

A SHOWER STALL

Hetty and I laughed. You can only imagine how bad our pantomime had been to make this woman believe we wanted to see the secret underground shower stall. (Were we worse than Joe?!) Hetty grabbed at a random towel hanging in the room and pretended to dry off her arms. Visual aids are always helpful. The secretary made an "Ohhhhhh, so that's what you wanted" face and led us back to the office.

She found some dishrags for us to use as towels (well honestly they might as well have been dishrags) and we all had a good friendly laugh as Hetty and I finally left this poor woman alone. (I have found that when faced with an awkward situation and literally nothing to say, friendly laughter serves well.) I hope those at home can laugh along with this little experience!

(As a follow up, Standa later got some better towels for us to use - not bigger, but at least more absorbent!)