Western Journalist in Egypt says...

In Egypt it is considered abrupt to begin any conversation without at least half of the following:
Good morning.
Good morning to you.
Good morning of light.
Good morning of roses.
Good morning of jasmines (and so on, through the rest of the garden).
And how are you?
Fine, and you?
Fine also, thanks be to God.
Thanks to God.
Welcome, most welcome.
Welcome to you.
(Chorus)
...
In Cairo I often tore home from government offices, pumped up on Turkish coffee, to type up my notes and rush them into print. Only to find, flipping through my notebook, that all I had to write was "Thanks be to God"and "Would you like some sugar with your coffee?"

Taken from Baghdad without a Map by Tony Horwitz