kissing overboard

Just a quick one this time… Kissing on the cheek is not super common in the US as a form of casual greeting, but sometimes you see people kiss on one cheek upon greeting someone they are very familiar with, but any more than that is very rare. From my experiences, I was familiar with the ‘double kiss’, one on each cheek, when saying hello or goodbye to someone. This is what I do with my British friends, very fine, and totally ok by me. Now with my German friends (the Rotaractors) there is a three kiss requirement. New to me, but ok, you just tack on one more. But really if you think about it, isn’t it a little much. Maybe there is a wanting to make it special for that group, sort of making the tradition that everyone does, just a little bit more their own. Now here’s the real kicker… I was walking down the street the other day, and saw two Turkish 30-something men greet each other with four kisses. That’s right 4 kisses!! Come on, two on each cheek? Isn’t that going a bit overboard? (this is the point where I tell myself “It’s not bad, it’s just different” the motto they taught us the first day while studying abroad in London about experiencing cultural differences)