Greetings are an interesting thing here. Saying hello to someone on the street isn't really done. Unless you actually know them, or find yourself alone with someone, you just kind of ignore them and go on your way. It's funny though, because once in a residential building, no matter who you come across, whether you know them or not, you say hello, good morning, good evening, good afternoon, all the pleasantries. I don't see people often when climbing the two flights of stairs to the apartment, but when I do there's always an exchange of words. I just think it's funny that if I saw them two minutes later on the street, we would probably ignore each other.
Then it gets more complicated: kisses (faire la bise). From what I'm come to understand, twice on the cheek is good for family, friends, people you've known for a while, general acquaintances, and even meeting someone for the first time. It seems somewhat generational too. Any person I've met around my age will just immediately go for it, but when meeting someone older their responses can be different. Even then, I've had people my age put their hands out, though it's probably in response to "This is Marina, our American." I always hesitate, not knowing if I should go in for it or wait for them. They are quite straightforward though, so sometimes they'll just say, "Marina, on fait la bise?" (I'll kiss you hello/goodbye?) which is nice and easy to respond to.
The cultural formalities of these people has yet to become clear to me. I've tried figuring out the rules to greetings, but I'm sure there are countless interpretations and exceptions. To be safe, I go for the "just say hi to people when it feels appropriate and hopefully they respond or at least don't look at me crazy" route and hope for the best. I'm
tempted to just ask my host family, but we all know their response would just be, "Comme tu veux!"
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