How do you greet and say goodbye?

How do you greet and say goodbye in your country?

Growing up in Taiwan, people only shake hands in business situation. Other then that, we rarely have any physical contacts.

I am now in the U.S., so I am used to shake people's hands when I first met them, and sometimes also shake their hand when say goodbye. 

If they are good friends, I give them hugs. A big good hug is nice. : ) Of course it also depends on if the person is comfortable with it.

Hand shakes and hugs are pretty common when I interact with Americans, at least in the NW.

And then there is the cheek touching(kissing) .

The first time was with a German friend. Saying goodbye, I got pulled forward, and then I realized that I should to make my very first kiss “sound”. We only touch our cheeks on both side (firs on the right and second on the left), but we make kissing sounds. I was wondering if my very kissing sound sounded all right. Many of the Europeans do this cheek touching greeting and goodbye.

With friends who are from South America, they always give you good solid kisses on both sides of your checks. I am fine with being kissed but still not used to kiss their cheeks…

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It can get really confusing at times when I say "hi" or "goodbye" to my multi-national friends in a big party. Sometimes, some people only do the check kiss on one side, some do both side. Some of them actually touch your check and some doesn't. Some start from the left then right, and some start the opposite way… 

I think Thai greeting is graceful. Looks very elegant. 

Hey catiamike,

I guess I should feel honored to get that check kiss, since I only knew the German friend for a few days at that time !