Cheek kissing

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Here in Colombia it's traditional to greet women with a kiss on the cheek, which I find partially repulsive and partially awkward. To me, physical contact has a very intimate meaning, and I have preferred not to kiss the cheek of my female friends. Most of them are OK with that, and accept my decision, but one particular friend of mine has told me she feels isolated by my unkissability. The thing is, it doesn't really affect our friendship--we aren't any less close because of that, but it bothers me that she makes an issue of it by its mere mentioning.
Now that I think of it, it seems it's she who has a problem, not I.

i also never liked it. but i don't even like hand shaking. that's why i like it here in japan a small bow makes much more sense.
if she is the only one and it doesn't affect your friendship, then don't overthink it. it's all fine

i first been introduced to cheek kissing in portugal, we didn't do it in my native country. but the girls there accepted that i didn't lean forward to kiss them on the cheek, because i was a foreigner. being a foreigner is great, people accept your differences more

Eergghhh, I hate cheek kissing. I try to avoid it. I can handle the "air kisses" but when someone actually makes contact and I can feel their wet mouth, it really grosses me out. I mean, I have not minded people I have been in a relationship with doing this, but others

If people come in for the cheek kiss I usually try to convert it to a air kiss. Most of my friends are not like this and generally strangers avoid it. But I have been caught out a few times, particularly by relatives.

Your friend should just get over it as it is a really personal thing whether you let someone touch you with their lips and not something you can guilt someone into like your friend seems to be doing. She is definitely the one with the problem!

Hi! No way! I'm from Colombia too! , from cali. There you greet with one kiss and one hugh. It's pretty awkward but I've gotten used to it... you just put your cheek pretending you are giving kiss, do it fast and without pain AND "DONE!" Finally I got used to give the hugh.

My mother was always ofended about my very unnenthusiastic kiss but she can go fcuk her self I like it this way!

Now I live in the Netherlands only place on earth where you give your hand and/or 3 kisses, unless you are good friends then you give one, unless the person you are greeting comes from another country in wich case every country changes but if it's another european country it's more likely 2.

with all this confusions I decided to make it a joke everytime or just stick to my colombian way to charm everyone around ^.^ and it works -most of the times-.

When I was in Colombia I ran away from all those girly girls (me as a girl) that where always grabbing and hughing and making stranges noises like yelling "OMG! OMG! OMG!" with a nasal voice instead took the road of very unsentimental relationships with guys that like metal music and therefore where manifesting differently their humanity (instead of kissing or hughing). one very acerted desition! (I'm not into metal music though)

Good luck getting adapt!

I'm Southamerican too, and I used to hate the rounds of kisses we had to make, say, at birthday parties, going from one to the other and kissing them, also people you'd never met before. People hated me for not making the rounds when I didn't. I didn't care. Aaargh! Now where I live you don't have to kiss or shake hands. I love that.

I really don't like being touched by strangers and I can't stand the cheek kissing thingy. Women do that a lot - first time you meet somebody and they kiss you! I avoid it whenever possible and than people think I'm distant and arrogant...

I don't mind cheek kissing, or any kind of kissing at all. A lot of my friends who are girls will kiss me on the cheek as a greeting.

I was just thinking and a good way to overcome that is giving a very enthousiastic hand shake with a big smile

worked for me

I have a French family, and in France, we're expected to do between 2 to 4 kisses depending on what region you're in. But the kisses are somewhat air kisses in reality. All you do is put your cheeks together and kiss the air, you're not actually making lips to cheek contact.

Of course they're all air kisses, but you still have to get in physical contact with people you don't know or like. And it's much more intimate than a hand-shake. Hands are used to touch goods in stores and all kinds of objects, however nasty. Your cheek, your hair and upper body are not.

After I've hugged and been kissed on the cheek, I always come away with the feeling that the other person may have thought I'd enjoyed it too much, if you see what I mean. I just get this chill down my spine worrying that I've been too intimate, hugged for a nanosecond too long, made too much contact with the kiss. The worst time was when one of my female friends came to visit, went in for the hug/kiss greeting, and I judged my position wrongly and my hand landed not on her waist but bang on her breast. I was mortified.

On a sort of related subject, I feel extremely awkward when I'm expected to have my young nieces and nephews kiss me on the cheek. I sort of dodge out of the way and just ruffle their hair, just like my uncles used to do to me in England, no kissing there!

Cheek kissing, very embarrassing. Luckily I only have one or two friends who do this, and they're way across the Atlantic, so I don't see them much!

In Ireland, until not long ago, it was completely unthought of to kiss someone who wasn't immediate family (sibling, parent or child) other than your spouse. Kissing was a very precious thing, not just something you threw around.

Personally, I've noticed lots of folks like to hug, kiss, clasp hands for too long... etc etc.

And when I lived in France... urgh...

A kiss on the cheek is something I've schooled myself to. But I much prefer putting out both hands, grabbing them by the wrist, and shaking enthusiasitically. (When they're not looking I'll flap the cooties off later.)

johnners, you need THIS urgently!

[youtube]http://www.videojug.com/film/how-to-air-kiss[/youtube]

I am soooooo glad that australians do not do the whole cheek or air kissing thing. hugging and handshaking is bad enough.
The idea of someone being so much in my personal space is not cool, especially when I consider touch and physical contact to be a very intimate thing. Ick! That would be as bad as a complete stranger walking up and planting a big sloppy kiss on the lips.