European Kisses

One of the things I really don't like about living in Europe is the kissing. Instead of shaking hands (or doing nothing like Americans) when meeting someone new or just a friend for coffee, Europeans feel the need to do the air kisses. They're cute enough, but every country does a different number of kisses and it's almost impossible to know when to kiss or when not to kiss. It's impossible to know if you should hug, or just kiss, or slightly hug while kissing or, just do nothing, or shake hands. It's my personal nightmare. I find it horribly embarrassing when I lean in to kiss someone and then it turns out we're not going to be air kissing after all. Oof! Fail. I also have no idea if I should talk while kissing, as in, "Mwah! How Mwah! are Mwah! you?" In Switzerland it's three kisses. So embarrassing when you kiss an Argentine (one kiss) or a Parisian (two kisses) and you keep going in for more. Oh! I really do hate the kissing. 

My final thought on the negatives of air kissing is that it spreads disease. Hear me out. A few days before going to the US, J and I came down with the most violent stomach virus in recent memory. So did all of the moms in my mommy group that had met that week, presumably because we all kissed when we got together. And, one of the moms in my mommy group is part of a Swiss mommy group and that whole group got it, too. Finally, let's just add that when we were raging contagious, just hours before the projectile vomiting began, we attended a little dinner party of Americans. No kisses were exchanged. The virus stopped there, my friends. Not one of our friends at that dinner party got it! So, there you have it. Yes, they're cute and ultra-Euro, but I hate the kisses. Sorry!

{photo from Parisien Salon}