HBB (Day 2)
Today was our second day of HBB. With the help of the local instructors who took the refresher course with us yesterday, we taught Helping Babies Breathe to about 55 midwife students and resident physicians. They worked hard and mastered the skill of ventilation quite well.
"Faire la Bise"
I have noticed that as friends in the class greet each other upon arrival, they "font la bise" or literally, "do the kiss." "Une bise" is an informal way of saying "a kiss."
"Faire la bise" is the customary French greeting of giving someone a peck (or more than one!) on both cheeks.
The name "do a kiss" is deceiving--you don't actually give a slobbery kiss on the person's cheek.
You lean in towards the person and then proceed to almost do an air kiss on their right cheek before switching to the next cheek.
What's really interesting is that the number of kisses--two, three, or four--depends on the region. This is not only a source of confusion for people learning the art of French conversation. It's also a subject of discussion for the French. There's even an entire website dedicated to polling how many "bises" people do in their region.
Not only does the number of kisses differ, but the cheek that you start on also can change depending on where you live.
Here in Morocco, a former French protectorate with a large French influence, I have noticed that they start "la bise" on the left cheek and then instead of continuing to alternate left-right-left like in France, they do the "bise" on the left cheek and then two "bises" on the right cheek one after another. I even saw some of the participants give one on the left and then three or four in a row on the right. I am thinking that they do more kisses if they know the person well.
Here is a video that explains how to "faire la bise."
