Tuesday, September 04, 2007

Kissing the other cheek

As I was just explaining to CP, I am a total failure at international relations. The thing is, the official greeting for some cultures is the air-kissing first of one cheek and then the other cheek. Very European. Very chi-chi. But I gather there are exceptions based on, in come cases, culture, and in some cases tolerance for the kisser and/or the kissee. How many cheeks do you need to kiss if you met the person once about 18 years ago for three minutes and you're not quite sure what country she's from, and when you make a wild guess, you're three empires and an SSR away? I'm a one-cheek kind of guy at best, but the good news is that there seems to be allowances made for Americans. No doubt everyone here measures us against Americans they know well, like George W. Bush, so no matter how ill adept we are at the niceties, we come in well by comparison.

Needless to say, if you run into me when I return, steer clear for a few days until I readjust to local greeting techniques. This will avoid embarrassment for all involved.

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