The other day, a kindergarten group, got into the tram that I was in, and a 4 year old sat next to me. He stared at me for a minute, as if puzzled by my appearance. Then he came up with the most logical question, taking into account my unmade-up face and unstylish hair.
'Bist du eine frau?' Are you a woman?

If a grownup had asked this, it would have been an insult. But 4 year olds, generally get away with everything.

He really seemed to be interested in the book I was reading and took it from my hands.

"Look at me, I am reading too." He told me and began to flip through pages.

Since he soon got bored with acting all important reading a 'big book',  he wanted to know what was there in my bag. He opened my bag and looked through it. He announced, the things he found in there. Book, pen, more books...

"You do have a lot of books," He said thoughtfully, "do you have one for me?"

I gave him my pocket dictionary to hold. He was happy that it was small.

How do children do this? How do they make spontaneous conversations with out inhibitions? How do they just ignore, racial, cultural barriers?