Intercultural Greeting Clash #1
It’s that awkward moment when someone invades your personal space boundaries… Cheeks go red, palms sweaty, and you wish the ground would open up and swallow you. Two kisses on the cheeks? By the opposite sex?? Waaay too intimate for a teenage girl from a country where a handshake is borderline intimate.
One of my earliest memories of a cultural greeting clash goes back to my first visit to Portugal at the age of 16. I was introduced to a group of men in their 20s, so I stepped forward to greet them with a handshake – only to be met by a wall of laughter…
NO, NO, NO, NO, NOOO… That’s not how we greet in Port-choo-gaaal… HAHAHAHA
…followed by their animated embraces and a kiss on each of my cheeks – first on the right cheek, second on the left. With my hand left hanging in the air, a high pulse and red cheeks I felt a mix of embarrassment, reservation and pleasure at having had my personal space invaded by all these Portuguese men. Once I’d recovered from the personal space invasion I couldn’t help thinking wait till I tell my friends at home…
