I’ve gotten used to the kissing people on hello and goodbye thing, but I’ve run into a problem: what happens if you meet another foreigner who is from a hugging or shaking hands country? Do we do the Spanish protocol, the shaking hands, the hug, collide awkwardly?. When in Spain act Spanish and all that, but then, if it’s just you and the other person and there’s no one else around, should you act differently just because you are in a different country?
Any opinions?
3 comments:
Good question! How many times i've done the awkward hand-out, bump, kiss thing. Personally, I find it oppressive and kind of disgusting kissing/receiving kisses from people i dont especially like or have just met (and plenty of men take advantage of this social custom). However, unless its a particularly special person (who receives a hug), I do the two-kisses thing with friends, even if they aren't from this culture.
Hahaha, very true, happens to me all the time as well!
Since I don't like kissing a person I have never met before either, I intend to shake hands (but normally at that point the other person is bending forward to kiss :-))
I tend to default to the Spanish method for people I have met before, and handshake, even with Spanish women, for those I haven't. It hasn't lead to much awkwardness in the past, or it just gets laughed off as "don't mind me, I'm a bit british"
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