@Emily1491
To be fair, where this guest comes from, I gather that dishwashers are not that common. However, I have hosted a multitude of guests from that part of the world and never had anyone who thought it was 'extra storage'. Besides, I always show guests the dishwasher when they arrive.
With guests from countries where they are not the norm, we usually end up having a short chat about it, i.e. they say something like, "I'm not used to dishwashers. I prefer to wash things by hand," which is fine by me. The difference with this guest is that she just ignored whatever I showed her or explained to her. On top of that, there is nothing about the interior of a dishwasher (and mine is brand new so has the fancy digital display panel) that would indicate it is some sort of store cupboard (already showed her where all the dishes are stored).
Washing machines, on the other hand, are not uncommon where this young lady comes from. Yet, when I was showing her how to use it, she kept running over to the boiler on the other side of the kitchen and saying, "And then I put my things in there?" I had to repeatedly tell her no, that's the boiler, but she wouldn't listen. Eventually, I just said, "That is the boiler. Do not touch it. Do not mess with it. If you do something to the boiler and I have to pay for a heating engineer to come out and fix it, I will not be happy." I think she got the message.
Really though, we shouldn't have to go to these lengths. She speaks very good English so that is not the problem. Some people just refuse to listen.
Yes, it's guests like this that make me want to take a break from hosting. Luckily, the other two girls staying at the moment (similar age) are totally fine!