salutations

one of the chilean customs i am used to but still refuse to completely conform with.

every time you meet someone new COME INTO CLOSE ENOUGH CONTACT WITH ANYONE WHETHER YOU KNOW THEM, YOUR FRIEND KNOWS THEM, OR THE PERSON YOU ARE STANDING WITH WHO YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW KNOWS THEM, you kiss them on the cheek. well, you don't truly give them a kiss, it's more of a face-touch and you make a little kissing sound with your lips as you do it.

i understand this as a polite greeting. most of the time. the same process is repeated for saying goodbye. but when it's a huge group of people, is this REALLY necessary? especially a group of people where you know everyone! you know we are friends, so why do i need to put in all this unnecessary effort to run around an entire table or room giving every single person a kiss on the cheek before i can leave? it just looks and feels so unnatural.

another reason i am not a big fan of this form of greeting, is that the creepy guys totally take advantage of it and ACTUALLY plant a fat kiss on my face. like, you couldn't tell that i was already hesitantly trying to not even get a little bit close to your cheek in the first place? BACK OFF FREAK, now i have to go scrub my face before i can feel pure again. (just kidding, i don't actually do that, but maybe some people do OKAY?)

after this happens, it occasionally leads to this conversation i mentioned here.

you could say i'm slightly scarred from my chilean salutation experiences.