XXOO -- Besos!!

Besos!!  (i.e. "kisses")  

You hear it and see it all of the time here in Uruguay. People greet each other with a kiss - placing right cheeks next to each other and making a smacking noise in the air. Men to women. Women to women. Men to men. One kiss. A clasp of the arm or a hand on the shoulder. It's the standard way to acknowledge someone and give a greeting. And when you arrive at someone's home, or a meeting, or a restaurant - almost anywhere, really - you have to great EACH PERSON with a kiss on the cheek.

In the U.S., we shake hands and give hugs.

In Holland, they use THREE kisses - right cheeks, left cheeks, and finally right cheeks again. (whew!)

You also say "besos" to each other here in Uruguay as you say good-bye to each other - in person, over the phone, in a message or letter.

Everything's "BESOS!!"

In the beginning I didn't quite know what to do with all of these kisses. It seems rather intimate for someone who's used to thinking of kisses in a romantic way. Luckily I had twelve years in Holland before relocating to Uruguay so one kiss now seems easy.  ;)

I had two aunts who always signed x's and o's at the bottom of my birthday cards when I was a kid. Kisses and hugs... A symbol of warmth, of affection, of care and concern. I think of these symbols when I place my cheek next to someone else's or say at the close of a conversation "Besos!"

Warmth...

Affection...

Care...

Concern...

Upon greeting...

And in parting...

Think you could do it??  Give it a go! :)