Baden (Photo Credit: Me)
Are you very embarassed about some incidents in your life? Incidents which, at the time they occurred, made you wish that you could vanish into thin air? I bet there are!
I have had quite a few of such incidents. I remember two such incidents that occurred in 2012 in Baden near Vienna (in German, “Baden bei Wien“), in Austria. I was there for two weeks for a work-related training course. There were participants from many countries worldwide.
Baden near Vienna is a spa town which is south west of Vienna, the Austrian capital. It is famous for its sulphur-chlorine springs and its thermal baths. In the past, composers such as Ludwig van Beethoven, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Johann Strauss II visited its springs. Johann Strauss II was the composer of the waltz, “Tales from the Vienna Woods”.
I was very excited to visit Austria as it was the setting of my favourite movie, the 1965 musical by Rodgers and Hammerstein, “The Sound of Music”. I therefore looked forward to enjoying every moment of my trip. Hence, imagine my disappointment when the beginning of my stay involved an embarassing mistake made in a social context. The French will say, a “faux pas“!
Blunder at the Restaurant
The training was to take place at a hotel in Baden near Vienna. The participants were also to stay there during the period. I arrived there in the morning after my overnight flight from my country, Ghana and I checked into the hotel. After the lady at the front desk gave me my key, I was about to go to my room when she said that I could go for breakfast. I replied that to my knowledge, a person was only entitled to breakfast at a hotel if that person had spent the previous night there. However, she indicated that this was not the case and insisted that I could go and eat breakfast.
I therefore thought that this was a case of doing what the Romans do when in Rome. Being hungry, I thus gratefully entered the restaurant for breakfast. I was fetching some hot water from the dispenser into my teacup for tea when a waiter suddenly interrupted me. He asked me for my room number which I mentioned. I also explained to him that I had just checked in and that the lady at the front desk said that I could eat breakfast.
However, he authoritatively replied that I was not entitled to breakfast. He went on to say that the lady at the front desk had misinformed me. Apparently, the hotel had hired her recently and she also had challenges with the English language. He thus stated that I should put the teacup down or pay for the breakfast.
However, I was so embarassed that the thought of paying for the breakfast did not even appeal to me. I felt as if he had caught me with my hand in the cookie jar! The experience had consequently torn my self-esteem into shreds. I therefore had a bad taste in my mouth. Thus, with the last shred of dignity that I had left, I gently put down the teacup on the table. I declined to pay for the breakfast, excused myself and gracefully walked out of the restaurant. Fortunately, only one or two people were in the restaurant. Hence, very few people witnessed this embarassing spectacle.
Thereafter, I quietly went into my room to lick my wounds. I vowed to myself to never go for breakfast at a hotel where I had not spent the previous night, despite what any front desk staff might say! Once bitten, a hundred times shy! I thus consoled myself with a snack from my bag.
A beautiful lake near the hotel in Baden near Vienna
Error of Assumption at the Sauna
The hotel was an elegant structure with many amenities as part of its package, one of which was a Finnish sauna. I had never been to a sauna before. All I knew about saunas was that they were rooms people used as hot air baths or steam baths. I had also read about the health benefits of saunas. These included detoxification, increased metabolism, skin rejuvenation, stress management and relaxation.
I looked up “Finnish sauna” on the internet and learnt that it was a type of sauna which harnessed the power of dry heat. It did not use moisture or steam. It sounded very interesting. I therefore decided to try it. On the next day, after the training, I walked to the sauna with great excitement and anticipation.
The lady in charge directed me to the changing room and asked me to undress there. After that, I had to shower and enter the sauna with only a towel. Once in the sauna, I could choose to hang the towel on a rack or place the towel on the wooden bench before sitting on it. For the full benefit of a Finnish sauna, you had to be naked in the sauna for an average of fifteen minutes.
I expectantly entered the sauna and I hang my towel on the rack. In my birthday suit, I checked out the various rooms in the sauna. I was the only one there so I was completely at ease. There were about three different rooms with wooden benches at different heights. The rooms were very hot, heated between 80 to 100 degrees Celcius. Very soon, I was sweating profusely. I was standing at the corner in one of the rooms and enjoying the experience. I thought of how rejuvenated my skin would look after the session. I planned to go for my towel afterwards to place it on the bench and to sit for a while.
Suddenly, I saw an middle-aged man enter the sauna in his birthday suit while holding his towel. Fortunately, he entered another room beside where I was. I was totally aghast! How was that possible? I honestly thought that there would be separate times for men and women to enter the sauna! I was not prepared for this, being in my birthday suit! My towel was regretfully on the rack in the next room. What if he decided to enter where I was? I did not enter this sauna to become the subject of an exhibition!
I realised that his back was facing me so, with my heart racing, I quickly dashed into the next room. I anxiously retrieved my precious towel to cover myself. At this point, I had had enough of the sauna. I therefore rushed out with great relief.
I asked the lady in charge about why there was a man in there while I was there. She explained that she had omitted to tell me that it was a mixed sauna as she thought that I was aware of that fact. I told her that I had assumed that it was a sauna which had separate times for men and women. She duly apologised for the inconvenience. I vowed to myself to never assume and to always clarify the situation in question.
It seemed that this was fast becoming a trip of social blunders as I had had two blunders in two days. This had to change. I resolved to make up for the rocky start by doing a fair amount of sightseeing whenever I had the chance, given the tight schedule of the training. With sightseeing, I couldn’t possibly go wrong!
Sightseeing
In front of Kaiserhaus Baden, a local history museum in Baden near Vienna
Over the weekend, I joined a few friends that I had made during the training course for trips to the capital city, Vienna. I looked forward to practising the German phrases: “Entschuldigen Sie Bitte” (Excuse me, please), “Ja” (Yes), “Nein “(No), “Danke schön” (Thank you very much), and “Bitte” (Please). We saw a lot of interesting sights.
Signboard of Mozart
Horse-drawn carts
Exquisite vase in a museum
A view of the street in Vienna
St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna
In the company of amazing sculpture in Vienna
On the whole, I enjoyed my stay in Austria, despite the initial social blunders. I viewed everything as a learning experience. This was a trip that I learnt a lot from, and not only from the classroom. To Baden near Vienna, I will say, with gratitude, “Danke schön!”.
I think that we should strive to make each person, our teacher and each situation, our classroom. When we have that mindset, we will be in a position to take the opportunities that life has to offer. Hence, we will make the best out of every situation. The world is our oyster!
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