America Vs. Cambodia: Greeting

So, imagine meeting your friends or someone new. What do you normally do? Say hi? What do Cambodian people do? សំពះគ្នា? Do we say “ជំរាបសួរ”? I think doing that to your friends would be really weird. As for my move to the United States, the way people greet each other in USA is so confusing comparing to what I normally do when I meet my friends in Cambodia.

So what do I do when I meet a friend back in Cambodia. Absolutely nothing!!! At school, I just go take a seat next to them. And when I meet them somewhere else, I just go to them, say "Heyyyy", and start talking.

Now that I'm in America, everything things are completely different. It is much more complicated than what I am comfortable doing in Cambodia. Here in America, whenever people meet each other, they say "Hi! How are you? Oh, I'm good. blah blah blah". They do that like the time.  Additionally, they shake hand (for Men). To me a regular handshake is fine. But it's more than that. People here don't just "shake hands" normally, sometimes they add more cool things to their handshake. ) Here are some example: The thumb grab, the thumb grab follow by a quick hug, a regular handshake follow by a fist bump, just a fist bump. They even combine everything and spend like 5 seconds "performing" their handshake.

Handshake, release, hold fingers, grip fingers then fist bump

Thumb grip, may follow by a hug with left hand

This can be confusing and torturing to me when I run into someone, or meet them in the class. "What should I do?" "What is he going to do?" "Should I start?" "Should I wait?" "Oh, look, his hand is waiting for a handshake, but which one?"

Personally, I've watched American movies and YouTube video, so I've seen how they shake hand. At least, I'm a bit familiar with their culture. But in real life, you never really know what to expect. So, I just go with the flow with what seems natural  and also mimicking what the other person is doing. And don't worry, if you mess up, just laugh it off. They will tell you or even show you what to do. That way, next time you will know what kind of handshake he wants to do with you.

Sometimes, a regular handshake is fine, especially if you just meet someone for the first time. They don't expect you to do a crazy handshake with them. Once you are close with someone, you and him would start to shake hands differently (more complicated and cooler).

Now a greeting between a man and a woman is less complex, but more awkward for a Cambodian. We hug.  I've even seen men and women cheek kissing. (Please see image to avoid confusion). Hugging is common between friends, family, or even strangers. However, in Cambodia, it's not consider appropriate to hug your friends of the opposite sex. Plus, women in Cambodia wouldn't even let men hug them. Even if they do, the public eyes will be silently judging me and my friend for doing this kind of behavior in public. To me, I always feel like hugging is a way to show affection, especially hugging feels really good. So once I am in the US, I am totally fine with hugging friends or my relatives.

Back to greeting, it is totally normal to hug your female friends. But sometimes, I just say hi and don't hug them. That's also fine. This doesn't make them think that we are rude or unfriendly.

This can also apply when we meet a girl for the first time. It is also acceptable to shake her hand (regular handshake). (Note. Don't do the complex handshake with a girl, she would think that you are weird.)

So at first it can be strange for you if you are not familiar with all the hugging, hand shaking, fist bumping, cheek kissing, etc. But people here are willing to show you what to do. Just follow them and you are good to go.