Greetings

I really like how the people around here make a point of greeting each person in a group when they arrive somewhere. I did that "back home" with hugs for friends or head nods for others. Here, usually everyone at least shakes hands, kisses the left cheek of friends or gives 3 kisses (left-right-left) when meeting the relatives of friends. (3 kisses is more formal and less familiar.) Older kids do this, too. I was reminded of the greetings yesterday when I took Cameron to his game warmup. His cousin Travis who's visiting this week was with him and as they walked to the entrance, 3 of Cameron's teammates held the door and waited for them. Cameron shook hands with each teammate, as usual, and they each extended a hand to Travis, too. The parents of the teammates on the boys' teams have been very kind and welcoming to us and greet Kevin and me mostly the same way they greet each other (even though we're new and not as well known). I'm still not always sure about who to shake hands with and who to kiss, but it works. The only time one of us has had trouble with it was the time Kevin went to shake the hand of the (short) mother of one of the boys' teammates. As he put his hand out, she leaned up to kiss his cheek and managed to accidentally grope her instead. - Can't say we're not friendly! 

From what I hear, it's 4-kisses in France; however I saw men on the same basketball team greet each other with 2-kisses, starting on the right. They were in the French-speaking part of Belgium, so maybe that's the difference. So many "protocols" - it's part of the fun of being here and trying to learn the customs.