(Non-)kissing in Bulgaria

I spent three months in Sofia (Bulgaria) from September to December 2010.
I won't write anything about my work experience at the local Italian embassy here; I'll just stick to the main greeting-related topic.
Before going to Sofia, I thought Bulgarians would be a warm people, like Slavic people are known to be. Well... I was partially wrong!
When I arrived, I met a young woman I had got in touch with on CouchSurfing, who had offered to share her flat with me (I paid a low rental fare of about 100 euros per month, but I had to move out one month later, because her flat was so uncomfortable and we didn't get on very well). When we met, she gave me her hand, I took it and kissed her on both cheeks. It was ok: she didn't look astonished nor did she react in any particular way, but I guess she wasn't expecting it.
Some days later, I met other people from CouchSurfing at a meeting organized to visit some art museums and galleries. The organizer was a brilliant and pretty girl. When we met, she shook my hand with great energy, but that was all. When we said good-bye, after a pleasant time, she hugged me and I gave her kind-of a kiss on the cheek.
When I met her again, one month later, she still greeted me with a handshake as if that were our first meeting... I was a bit puzzled!
On another day, I met another young woman I had got to know on Facebook, with her husband and their baby. Again, we said hello and good-bye with quite a cold handshake.
I admit I didn't meet many other Bulgarians, but I did see many of them meeting up here and there. I noticed that the most common greetings among friend is, surprisingly, the handshake! Some of them hug, many fewer kiss. Like everywhere in Europe, cheek-kissing is a bit more common among younger people, but still not that common!
I hope there will be more cheek-kisses next time I go to Bulgaria (although I don't know when it's going to be, since my first experience there was not great - mostly due to my work at the Embassy and to the several street dogs that scared me)!