Starka and Me

This is Starka (Slovak term of endearment for grandmother). She is Michal's grandmother and she does not speak a lick of English. I speak just a lick of Slovak. But we have taken a liking to each other and despite the obvious language barrier we are able to have a conversation whereby we (mostly) understand each other. I went to visit Starka yesterday at her apartment about 5 minutes walk from here. We visited for about 3 hours and had a lovely time. At one point, I was trying to tell her that I would be taking a train to Bratislava after Christmas, and to depict the word 'train' I used the (I thought) universally accepted series of sounds and movements (chuga, chuga with the arm movements and then choo, choo with arm movements to blow the whistle). My past experience with this type of word told me it would be understood in most parts of the world.....just not in Starka's world! After my (over?) dramatic portrayal, rather than the understanding facial nods I was expecting, there erupted from this woman's mouth the most guttural laugh I've ever heard! She laughed and laughed and of course I laughed too....but I asked her rozumiet'? (do you understand), and she said no!! And that made her laugh all the more - so I did the sounds and movements again with a more serious posture this time (sure that it was just my rendition of the train that was not understood)....and again she howled with laughter! I then had to grab my Slovak/English dictionary to find the Slovak word for train before she thought I was completely insane! Oh my, I haven't laughed that hard in a while - and I don't think she had either! Even though I might appear a little nutsy to her, she has invited me back for another visit, so I plan on visiting her again very soon - actually, she may just become a regular part of my weekly routine!