La Bise

I've decided that I have to do a blog post about La Bise.  This refers to the kissing on the cheek the French notoriously do to greet each other.  It's a very real thing.  This is not just some stereotyped thing you see in movies.  And depending on where you are in the country the number of kisses varies. Where we are living it's customary to greet others with 2 kisses but because we are so close to Switzerland sometimes this means 3 kisses; as is the custom in Switzerland.  In Paris, it's 4 kisses!! Who has time for all that kissing??  Although it's starting to feel more natural for me, the kids are still pretty freaked out about it.  The fact that they're supposed to greet every adult they meet with kisses is way too much for my shy little birds.  At this point I've let go of the potential offense and rudeness this causes when a family member or close family friend is refused a kiss from the girls.  They're much better at hugging.

I apologize in advance if the language is offensive to you (he swears a lot) but I recently came across this perfect (and hilarious) video to explain La Bise and the real impact it makes on social gatherings.

From personal experience, I have to say the required kissing of every single person at the dinner party when you arrive and when you leave is exhausting.  Not to mention the fact that dinner parties here don't even start until 8pm and generally linger well after midnight.  So you're exhausted, half awake, and still have to make the round of kisses.  On one night in particular, actually the night that Marc ended up in the ED, we came home to a dinner party already underway.  After putting Marc to bed I joined the party.....kissing everyone of course.  At about 1am when the party was still no where close to wrapping up, all I wanted to do was excuse myself politely and head off to bed, and yet I actually chose not to do this because of the requisite kissing I was going to have to perform solo around the entire table.  I waited it out until 2am and then bid my farewell to everyone with, of course, kisses all around.