  after having spent 7 months in brazil, i got over my relative indifference to "excessive" physical contact between friends and acquaintances. "excessive" because before my conversion to public displays of affection, not just to significant others, i didn't actually think it was unnecessary, i just wasn't that bothered about it. sure, i'd hug someone if they wanted a hug, but i wasn't doling them out un requested, and often felt slightly uncomfortable in the face of such overt, honest signs of affection. all this changed with the help of my friends leo, vanessa and natalia, who are a bunch of lovey-dovey affection-giving big teddy bears i could hug and kiss all day. i had forgotten how good it makes you feel to give and receive such manifestations of friendship and genuine caring, despite the fact that when i lived in japan it was everyday-fodder between my friends and me. it sometimes felt uncomfortable seeing my parents be physical, as when i was little that didn't happen too often. living in the united kingdom and in france, having to build new friendships from scratch and not being familiar with the limits others are accustomed to when it comes to contact, you tend to stick to the safe limits of physical affection so as to not offend or put your friends in uncomfortable positions.
and with that, i lost the habit. it would still come back when i'd be in japan for the holidays, because my friends there continue to be very warm and affectionate, walking down streets with our arms around each other or hand in hand.
it was only with boyfriends that i felt completely at ease to give out hugs and kisses and hand-squeezes for no real reason, just to let them know how much i felt for them, to ease that feeling you get when the love you have, no matter how cheesy this sounds, is literally overflowing, pouring out, and the only thing you can do is to translate it into physical affection. so anyway, with brazil, i've returned to a healthy fearless state of physical affection. i like giving it, and it feels especially good when you get it back.
unfortunately, as predicted, my friends here are not all that up for it, so i've stopped showing it that much. but, urlLink this piece in the new york times has made me wonder how people would react to this kind of behaviour in paris, where the bise is the only real acceptable greetings, with regional variations and spinoffs depending on the level of intimacy. but, if it works to a certain extent in new york, could it work here? it would be funny to see, but it certainly won't be me that's going to stand at les halles trying my luck. 
