strangers on a train

It's easy to find, from time to time, people who get to know each other on the train...or that simple start talking, let's say, about the weather (the deep topic) and then fade away once they get off the train...and might never meet each other again. I always enjoy seeing such spontaneous and quite fresh interactions, that break the serious faces of passengers using our "wonderful" RENFE. Sometimes you might have observed a person with a certain interesting or curious look, or the opposite, that is, a very common person, or somebody reading something. Unconciously we build an image and identity for that person based on intuition. Ah! and then, suddenly, that person meets somebody or he/she begins to talk on the phone. Then it's when the image we had build collapses, because normally those "observed" people have an identity which doesn't trascend their appearence. The moment when one discovers the voice, the way of talking and the kind of information he/she shares is always interesting.

Something very different is when the unexpected interaction affects the observer. It can be sometimes scary but other times nice and even pleasant. Yesterday i came across this second time of interaction surprise....and the reason why the interaction bloomed wasn't The Weather (in fact, it was dark and no clouds to observe, as good orators on Weather do) but learning chinese. I sat randomly, like always when i come back home, and next to me there was a young man wearing suit (well, without the jacket, since it was a bit hot) but i didn't pay attention to him....i saw the free seat and sat. I was having a look at my brand new photocopies for tibetan language class and then at my book of chinese (not brand new, but almost). The curiosity attacked that guy and made him ask me whether i was studying chinese....and then the communication went on smoothly. The image i got from him when i sat, that of a serious person, disappeared as we talked and sometimes laughed. I guess he had also thought that i was a serious person. I'm always curious about the image i give, which i think is most times that of a very serious or distant person. The casuality also made us get off the train at the same train station. Then, after giving each other our names, we became aquainted. We're no longer strangers on a train. Maybe, in some other wagon some other people became acquainted...or maybe just shared a few words or exchanged some questions.

A couple of renfe slogans:

¿Cuánto hace que no subes al tren? (old one)

Los sueños viajan en tren.