Roy and I have been in Switzerland for over a year now so you would think that we would have greetings down pat by now right? I would say no. Despite the views of some people of Switzerland being fairly xenophobic, there are a lot of expats and immigrants living here, particularly in Martigny where Roy works. We mix with a lot of different people from many, many, different parts of the world. From places like China, Iran, Mexico, Brazil, England, India, Vietnam, France and of course Switzerland. There's bound to be more countries that I have missed but I'm sure you get the idea.
We usually socialise at least once a week with people from Roy's work and usually that's a beer at a café on Friday afternoons. It's a good way for them to unwind from work and get ready for the weekend. Usually when we go for a beer, no one bothers with formal greetings but when we meet up for other events on the weekend there tends to be more of a greeting. The standard Swiss greeting is three loud kisses on the cheek. You usually start by touching your right cheeks, making a loud kissing sound, then you touch your left cheeks, kissing sound and then back to the right.
Things get a little confusing when we socialise with some of the French folk that work with Roy. The standard greeting for French people is the same as the Swiss way except they omit the third kiss. From what I can tell, this greeting happens regardless of how well you know the people.
While at a friend's party, some people arrived who I had never met before and they made their way around the room greeting everyone in this fashion. We went to another social event with the same people and I made the mistake of just walking in the door without making the rounds and greeting everyone by touching cheeks. I understand that different cultures greet differently, but to an Aussie chick it seemed a little weird to be obliged to greet every single person, personally and touch cheeks and making a kissing sound. I can understand that it's polite and that you can engage with each person, it kind of breaks the ice a little I guess. I'm just used to walking into a party and giving a generic greeting to the group. Australian's seem to enjoy their personal space I think - possibly stemming from having so much damn space in our country. I often wonder what people do when there is a really large crowd. Would everyone spend the whole night greeting people or would they opt for a more 'Australian' approach and just wave and say hello? Perhaps they would just personally greet the people that they know on a personal level.
Something that confuses most people we socialise with is, do we do three kisses or two if we are with French people, but we're in Switzerland? It creates this awkward question and a tense moment where you are caught between the second and third kiss and you go for the third but the other person is already pulling away and starting to sit down.
A friend who is from South Africa was leaving Switzerland for a new job so we were saying a farewell over some fondue and when we were about to leave I went in for a hug. A common way to say goodbye to a friend in Australia is to give them a hug. It's a good way to get personal without the potential of sharing sickness through an accidental spit incident while smacking your lips together to create the kissing sound when touching cheeks the Swiss/French way. I made the assumption that since South African culture seems quite similar to Australia culture that he would be ready for the hug but his brain was still in Swiss mode and he went for the cheek touching option. We got caught in this rather awkward hug, head bashing x3, kiss sounding thing that needed to be defused by us asking "okay, are we going for the Swiss three kisses or the French two?". Needless to say, it wasn't so awkward that a few laughs couldn't cut through the weirdness.
I think the best remedy for this dilemma is to establish in advance with the person you are greeting as to what type of greeting you are going to do, to save a little bit of awkwardness.
We usually socialise at least once a week with people from Roy's work and usually that's a beer at a café on Friday afternoons. It's a good way for them to unwind from work and get ready for the weekend. Usually when we go for a beer, no one bothers with formal greetings but when we meet up for other events on the weekend there tends to be more of a greeting. The standard Swiss greeting is three loud kisses on the cheek. You usually start by touching your right cheeks, making a loud kissing sound, then you touch your left cheeks, kissing sound and then back to the right.
Things get a little confusing when we socialise with some of the French folk that work with Roy. The standard greeting for French people is the same as the Swiss way except they omit the third kiss. From what I can tell, this greeting happens regardless of how well you know the people.
While at a friend's party, some people arrived who I had never met before and they made their way around the room greeting everyone in this fashion. We went to another social event with the same people and I made the mistake of just walking in the door without making the rounds and greeting everyone by touching cheeks. I understand that different cultures greet differently, but to an Aussie chick it seemed a little weird to be obliged to greet every single person, personally and touch cheeks and making a kissing sound. I can understand that it's polite and that you can engage with each person, it kind of breaks the ice a little I guess. I'm just used to walking into a party and giving a generic greeting to the group. Australian's seem to enjoy their personal space I think - possibly stemming from having so much damn space in our country. I often wonder what people do when there is a really large crowd. Would everyone spend the whole night greeting people or would they opt for a more 'Australian' approach and just wave and say hello? Perhaps they would just personally greet the people that they know on a personal level.
Something that confuses most people we socialise with is, do we do three kisses or two if we are with French people, but we're in Switzerland? It creates this awkward question and a tense moment where you are caught between the second and third kiss and you go for the third but the other person is already pulling away and starting to sit down.
A friend who is from South Africa was leaving Switzerland for a new job so we were saying a farewell over some fondue and when we were about to leave I went in for a hug. A common way to say goodbye to a friend in Australia is to give them a hug. It's a good way to get personal without the potential of sharing sickness through an accidental spit incident while smacking your lips together to create the kissing sound when touching cheeks the Swiss/French way. I made the assumption that since South African culture seems quite similar to Australia culture that he would be ready for the hug but his brain was still in Swiss mode and he went for the cheek touching option. We got caught in this rather awkward hug, head bashing x3, kiss sounding thing that needed to be defused by us asking "okay, are we going for the Swiss three kisses or the French two?". Needless to say, it wasn't so awkward that a few laughs couldn't cut through the weirdness.
I think the best remedy for this dilemma is to establish in advance with the person you are greeting as to what type of greeting you are going to do, to save a little bit of awkwardness.
OMG!! That is so funny!!! I have been laughing out loud literally!!! Awesome story Tiff!!! You need to write a book with all this stuff!!! Love ya!!! Big Aussie hugs and kisses!!!
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