Maria

' It's a berimbau. A Brazilian instrument.'  I had replied in a very short but friendly way, on the question about what it was that I was carrying. I have gotten used to that question.  'Cool!', she replied. 

I returned to my seat a bit closer to the door of the train, just behind where the lady that had asked the question and her daughter were sitting.

I tried focusing my attention on the book I am carrying along these days, the perfect remedy for boring train rides 'The unlikely pilgrimage of Harold Fry' , but I could not concentrate. I felt bad about the reply I had given. I had not explained anything. I bet she had no clue what a berimbau, even tough I mentioned that it was a Brazilian instrument,  was.

My internet does not work very well these days, because, as usual, I used all my data and have to wait one week before I can use my new bundle, but I gathered some patience and looked up an image of a berimbau on google. She was having a conversation with her daughter but I walked towards them anyway and waited until they noticed me and showed them the image and gave them so more information about how to play it. 

Now I really felt like I had answered her question
and that they knew what a berimbau was. She had asked me to repeat the name one more time and I did. 'Bay-rem- bow', she tried. I felt satisfied.

So I had given a proper answer and could have walked back to my seat and continue reading my book but the more words I exchanged with them, the more my curiosity grew. The lady sounded a lot like my aunt Emily. Her voice was happy, warm and friendly. I could tell they were American. 'Are you on vacation?' They replied that they were, so I asked them where they were from. 'Las Vegas'. I told them I had never spoken to anyone who actually lives in Las Vegas. 'Yes, some people think we live in hotels', her daughter said and we all laughed. The funny thing is that some people do live in hotels. A friend of mine has lived in hotels for a part of his life, but they did not.

For the time we had been talking I stayed on my feet, with the bag containing my berimbau on my back,  and stepped forward or backwards to let people through, since I was blocking the corridor.  I did not feel like sitting down, because even though I did enjoy talking to these friendly strangers I had just met, I did not want to force the conversation upon them. 

A given moment people also sat down in front of them, so I no longer had a choice whether to sit down or not, even if I wanted to. I stayed on my feet and we continued our conversation:  They told me they were here to look at schools for the daughter. She was studying dance and wanted to continue her school career here. 'You have the whole United States and you are looking at schools here?' I was very surprised to hear that and it totally reflected in my voice. They explained that there are more opportunities for the arts, like dance, here than in the United States. Another reason was, that the daughter wanted to experience what living here is like. 

They told me they were here for a few days when I asked how long they are staying.  'How many schools did you visit here already ?'  'Just one', the mother replied. I automatically felt like I had to recommend them all the other dance academies in the country. But the truth was that the people I know that attend those academies aren't really my friends but merely acquaintances and I had no clue which academy they were attending or what the quality of those academies was. The only thing I knew was that these people in front of me had come all the way from the United States to choose a dance academy and had only visited one.  How could they make a good choice that way? They noticed that I did not really understand why they had only paid a visit to one school and explained that the reason was that her teacher had recommended that school.  But, the mother added that tomorrow they would be in Amsterdam and just maybe they would visit the dance academy there too. They would then fly to London in the evening and visit more schools there. 

When I was walking home a bit later, I was reflecting on the conversation. I realized that I could have asked them many more things but at that moment in the train I started feeling a bit awkward and ran out of things to ask or say. I decided to end the conversation so I wished them a pleasant stay in London and good luck finding a good school and returned to my seat near the door and continued reading. 'You are really sweet!', the woman had said and I had replied that they were too and I don't know if they believed me but I meant it.

I thought about all the nice conversations I've had with interesting and friendly people along the way and how we parted. I realized that I could add these two people to the list of people, with whom I have had a nice conversation, who I wished all the best, but who I will probably never see again.

It is strange. 

You cross paths with so many people every day. 

And with most people you cross paths without even noticing or acknowledging their existence. 

With others, you cross paths without looking each other in the eyes. 

Sometimes your eyes do cross for a short moment and then you walk by, without greeting. I wonder if eye contact is  even enough to let people know you acknowledge their presence.

There are some people that you cross paths with and actually greet and there's only a few with whom you actually exchange a few words and there are even less people with whom you actually have a conversation. This usually happens when your paths cross and your eyes meet and when one of you is bold enough to make a random comment or dares to ask a question and when you both have or make some time for a complete stranger. That comment or question can be anything but it's an opening, an invitation to a conversation.

I personally think conversations with strangers are amazing. Sometimes you do more talking and sometimes you do more listening and nodding and sometimes you do a little bit of both. Sometimes you have a serious conversation, sometimes you laugh together and sometimes you help each other.

I'm sorry, that wasn't about Maria, but this is.

One time I stepped into the train on my way to school and a lady was standing in the hallway near the toilet and she looked a bit panicky. I asked her what was wrong and whether she was doubting if she was in the right train. That was not the problem. She told me she was on her way to sign a contract for her new job in a clothing shop but she was going to be late. 

She turned out to be from the Dominican Republic and I told her I was from Curacao. She asked me if I also speak Spanish so I replied, like I always do, with 'solo un poquito' and that is nothing more or less than the truth. 

She had to call her future boss to tell that she was going to be late.  Her Dutch was not that well though and she did not know what she was going to say. She said it is a really bad thing to be late, especially here in the Netherlands and she was right. It is a really bad thing.

I suggested to tell them that her train was delayed, because that happens all the time here and it's a valid excuse that would keep her out of trouble. We talked about other things, about how long we both had lived here for example and went through what she was going to say a few times. I wanted to help her and felt bad to rush her, but I had to get out at the next stop so I told her to hurry up.

She dialed the number. 'De trein is vertraagd. De trein is vertraagd' She kept repeating it until someone picked up the phone and told them exactly what we had practiced.

I asked her how she was planning to get at the location when she got out of the train. She gave me the address and we discussed some possibilities. 

She had decided to take a cab because that seemed the easiest and fastest way, but I scribbled down some other possibilities on a piece of paper and handed it to her, just in case.

I wished her good luck with the job and she wished me good luck too. We then realized we had not even introduced ourselves so we shook hands, mentioned our names and then I jumped out of the train and kept thinking about our encounter while I was walking to school. It was about a month ago and I hope everything worked out well for her, Maria.