So periodically I help the old woman on the fourth floor of my apartment carry her groceries up the stairs. No biggie, but feel free to compare me to Jesus.
Anyway, yesterday after I carried her bags up the stairs she seemed particularly friendly and spread her arms wide open. Now, coming from the West coast I interpret this as her saying 'give me a hug' and thus, I lean in and wrap my arms around her. In Quebec however, spreading one's arms means she wanted to 'faire la bise' (for the uninitiated, this means we kiss each other on the cheeks).
In the resulting jumble of limbs and lips the old woman ended up kissing my neck and (as I realized I was doing the wrong thing) I ended up kissing the inside of her ear (Hey! She was short!) and not wanting to be awkward I decided to complete the action by continuing to kiss her on the opposite cheek as she stared dumbfounded at my inability to properly conduct the most basic of basic French customs.
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