Kissed By a Stranger Meiling, a 16-year-old Taiwanese girl, went to France last year to visit her cousin Emma. 美玲, 一個 16 歲的台灣女孩, 去年到髮國拜訪他的表 姊 Emma. She loved everything about her trip except for the time she met one of Emma’s friends. 他喜歡這趟旅行中的每件事, 除了他遇到 Emma 其中 一位朋友的那一次. Meiling smiled and said hi, but the girl grabbed her shoulders and kissed both her cheeks. 美玲笑著說嗨, 但那女孩抓住她的肩膀並親吻她的 雙頰. Meiling was very surprised, and she didn’t know what to do. 美玲非常訝異, 他不知道該做甚麼.

Meiling was embarrassed by the experience because she never saw people kissing each other’s cheeks in Taiwan. 美玲因此次經驗而感到尷尬, 因為他在台灣從來沒 看過人們親彼此的臉頰. However, for people in Europe and Latin America, this is a common practice. 然而, 對於在歐洲及拉丁美洲的人, 這是一項很常見 的習俗. People there kiss one another’s cheeks as a form of greeting when they meet their friends or family members. 在那裏的人遇到他們的朋友或家人時, 會親彼此的 臉頰當作打招呼的方式.

The ways of giving this kind of kiss vary from one place to another. Sometimes you may see people really kissing one another’s cheeks. Sometimes the cheeks touch but the lips aren’t used. Sometimes the faces don’t even touch at all, and the two people just make the kissing sound. In addition, people may kiss the cheeks one, two, three, or even four times. Some guys use this confusion to steal a few extra kisses from beautiful women.

They may say, “We kiss four times in my hometown.” Some women may take the joke even further and say, “In my country, we kiss eight times!” Like Meiling, you may not know how to react when someone suddenly kisses your cheek. However, your culture shock will just be a sign that you are experiencing something new. Try to relax and follow the local customs, and you will learn more about various cultures.