Quote:
Originally Posted by Caroline_afifi
One of the things that often annoys me in Egypt is seeing foreign women being touched and kissed.
Friends in Egypt may greet each other with a 'peck' on each cheek in but there is no real big 'smackers' followed by a tight embrace. Even a handshake is a tentative meeting of the hands.
Egyptian men outside of tourism do not behave in this way at all.
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Dear Caroline,
I have often wondered about the softish, barely there touching your fingers handshakes of the women and men of the Middle East. So different from the hearty American style handshake. I had never thought of it in this context before, but of course, you are correct! It is not only Egyptians, but throughout the Middle East. Now, once people have gotten to know me well, the women in many cases are almost more handsy that I could deal with at first, touching each other and me and ways that would be considered inappropriate in the West. It seems to go from one extreme to the other!! And in public of course it is usually a different matter. Nobody in any of the tourist places acted out of line physically, but I did get three marriage proposals from the same shop keeper!!
Regards,
A'isha