TO KISS OR NOT KISS

Cross-cultural communication can be quite challenging and difficult. The forms of communication you may understand, other's may not. There are many different types of people who come from different cultures who share different forms of communication where for example, they are use to having their own space to sharing tight space with people. They can be someone who is use to hugging or kissing someone on the cheek frequently or to only shaking someone's hand. Communication isn't only about the social aspect, but truly how we learn to adapt to many other different forms of communication that people hold. This made me think of how other people I know who come from different backgrounds communicate. For example, a director whom I use to work with was born in France and moved to New York. No matter what whenever she meets someone, she kisses them on the check from left to right. And sometimes I see how shocked or shy someone will be when she does this.  Because so many people aren't use to that form of communication And doing so can disrupt their peace of mind, create mixed messages, or offend them or make them think something you don't expect them to think.  I can relate to this because I come from an hispanic background where if I meet someone especially someone's mother or father I would kiss them on the check. This is something very familiar with hispanics or latinos and something we do very often when it comes to greeting others. But of course I learned when to do it and when not to do it.