Fencing and French etiquette

So we did it! I took Josh to his first Fencing class and everything went fine, despite the fact that he couldn't understand a word of what the instructor was telling him. He did manage to survive two hours surrounded by local kids and he learned two new terms: "garçon" and "filles". He met a girl in the group, Lila, who speaks a bit of English so he felt more relaxed. I spoke to his father, Andre (or Andrew?) who turned out to be born in California (Palo Alto) and moved here when he was 25. We spoke for at least half an hour, then, while walking to the exit, I turned to him and said: "By the way, I'm Isabella". He smiled at me and replied: "That's so American!". "What?" I asked him. "That you introduce yourself by name. You see? French people don't normally introduce themselves at the first encounter, they just wait, talk, and then after a while, perhaps days, it will eventually happen!". I'm not sure if he was making fun of me but in any case I thought it was funny. Last week it was the other way around: I was at home, sitting in the patio (which is in common with the other neighbors) and trying to "blend in" the house when a neighbor came to me and formally introduced himself and asked me several questions (where were we from, why where we here, how long are we going to stay, etc). He told me that this place, this neighborhood, the "Butte aux Cailles", is like a big family and everybody knows each other. Well, I guess I'll have to study more French etiquette!