When I run the sample from http://developer.android.com/resources/tutorials/hello-world.html, I am not getting to see the "hello Android" in the AVD/Emulator. I have a target compile set to 2.2 (API level 8) and thats also what the AVD is targettted to run.
Please advice.
Are you running the eclipse pluggin? If so try to make sure that the device is "unlocked" when you run your code. You also should be able to go to the android application menu from the android home screen on the AVD to find it.
If this doesn't work I would suggest looking at a different hello world tutorial. http://www.vogella.de/articles/Android/article.html#first_project
I found the vogella.de tutorials very helpful when I was starting out.