Amsterdam Central Station: Pink Ladies & The Man From Burkina Faso

Amsterdam Central Train station  largely busy and teeming with people and the first point of call for tourists. I should have used my common sense and not used the Travelex at the central station to change money but i did and was therefore greeted with a que.

Scanning the que i see people of various ethnicity's and in front of me two Germanic looking ladies with luminous pink wigs that reflected this semi-blinding light. Irritatingly only one of the three counters were open and after a ludicrously long wait only the pink ladies were left.

The pink ladies approach the booth and engaged in some informal chit chat about their hair with the woman at the counter, which then turned into a full blown conversation (at this point id been there 30min and my blood was boiling), and it didn't end there, oh no, they pull out a map asking for directions and talking about venues! So I begun rolling my eyes and shuffling about in a vain attempt to communicate my annoyance to the woman at the counter but she was so engaged she didn't notice. Question: why do Dutch people talk so much?

Morale of the story, don't use the Travelex at central station to change currency and don't fall for stereotypes not all non-Europeans extend que time with money transfers and not all Europeans just go in for a simple currency exchange.

& The Man From Burkina Faso - While i was on the platform i was approached by a man from Burkina Faso a land locked island in West Africa (he told me so) looking slightly shabby and worn out he extends his arm out with a white paper.

"just tell him we have no money"' i whisper to my friend.

"10B'' the man says pointing at the paper

On closer inspection i see he wanted directions, sure enough he was at the right platform but his final destination involved a more complicated journey. My friend asked him if he spoke Arabic evidently as he didn't speak Dutch of English. He looked up above and sighed shaking his head, frustrated at his inability to communicate.

Then a Dutch woman walked by (and their in the habit of doing this) with a smile on her face and looking to see if we needed help so i call her over and explain to her where hes heading and the fact that he doesn't speak English or Dutch.

"Where are you from"' she enquires

"'Burkina Faso" he says

""Parlez-vous français ? she retorts

In a look of absolute joy he nods, she then turns and gives me an explanation about how she knows people from that region and conveniently speaks French. Everyone seemed so happy at that point, the poor dishevelled looking man can be helped, hurrah.

So she walks of with the man pointing at another platform while speaking in English.

"Why is she speaking with him in English and not French?"' I'm asked

"'I don't know, maybe she forgot"'.