I know different people have had different experience on this. I will only speak from my own and that of close friends - foreigners like I.
It has come to pass that, and it is quite common in my experience, that an English person might pretend as if they have never met you before though in reality they have. They are not amnesiac nor suffering from a minor concussion. And funny enough, it really never stops - of course you meet the exceptions and not everyone is the same, but one has to be prepared for this wonderful, and quite charming experience.
My friends and I have come up with the word, The Awkwardness of the English, to talk about this situation. Indeed it is awkward for both parties, you and the English himself or herself.
Let me narrate one of the very interesting stories. One of the earliest days when Autumn was still reigning and winter had yet to set foot, I went to a nearby pub - when you are in Rome do like the Romans. Isn't here where everything happens? Of course initially it started off awkwardly. I know I am speaking from a tropical boy point of view. But soon enough I was already chatting to someone quite abundantly. It was slow night and everything was falling neatly in the order it was required to. In my view, speaking to someone for the first time is a challenge, I mean they wouldn't have the 'break the ice' phenomenon if it wasn't. But when you have passed this stage then everything is supposed to be easy - like riding down the mountain on your bike.
The following day, cloudy and gloomy as usual, I was heading to the Supermarket. And so I happened to see the guy that I had quite a pleasant conversation with in the pub approaching from the other side of the road. Of course, according to my tropical nature which dictates a lot of things I do, a grin covered my face, my body language changed becoming more friendly as we got closer. But what happened as we got closer, was very awkward to both of us. The guy first pretended as if he hadn't seen me until I called his name and he turned. What happened from here continued to be quite awkward. It was as if we had never met before. The conversation was dragging and screeching the metal and it wasn't getting anywhere.
I know in Swahili we have a perfect word for this. 'Kumchunia mtu'. It is pretty much pretending that this person you happen to see today, has never crossed paths with you in what would have dictated a much more friendly nature, taking over the conversation further from the first encounter.
Now I would like to say, I was never drunk nor was he when we spoke. It was a gentleman chat about all things good.
But of course this wasn't the first time it happened; the bomb drops in from time to time and everytime one becomes good at handling the situation.
And so I asked one English person, why this awkwardness. He told me that for most English people this awkwardness is quite natural - you really don't want to jump on a stranger you met yesterday just in case they don't remember you. I know! I know! It doesn't make much sense but it is so. It is like saving face or something for the Asian community. But I really don't understand it much myself.
And of course there is the whole debate of what a friend is. My amigos in Latin America would take five minutes to warm up to you and invite you to parties and call you brother from another mother, but English are quite the opposite. You need to have quite an amount of foreplay and lubing things around before names are dropped. A year maybe? I don't know.
Of course I am not trying to berate the English - quite the contrary they are wonderful lot. But it is all about learning how to handle an awkward situation if it chooses to arise from nowhere.
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