Getting to know you, getting to know all about you

Our new neighborhood is friendly. Really friendly. I don't know how to deal with this. People come up and say hi and want to hang out and let our kids play together, and I'm sitting there going "Socialization? Ahhhh!" Our last neighborhood was a lot more subdued. No one was ever home at our fourplex. I was starting to think we must have been emitting strange odors from our apartment, because the parking lot was always literally empty from eight in the morning until we went to bed. So I'm kind of out of practice on being nice to people and making polite chit chat and being interesting. And I don't have the whole short-term living situation thing going for me, so I probably should get over my awkwardness and learn how to interact with human beings. Are there classes for this sort of thing? Where I can perhaps practice on complete strangers I'll never meet again? So far I'm sticking to the whole where-you-from-what's-your-major concept with a few substitutions, like "how old is your kid?" instead of "when do you graduate?" Actually, I like that one. You can go on about how cute someone's kid is for ages and they end up thinking you're pretty nice. I usually count on Madeline to make some sort of disruption about five minutes into the conversation to spare me from remembering what you're supposed to do after the initial get to know you. Sometimes, a hyperactive child is a blessing.