how old am I?
When I first started teaching in korea, i was amazed that many students could not answer my question, " how old are you?'. It was a very simple and straight forward question, wasn't it? After almost a year in korea, I found myself sitting at home yesterday and for a good 5-10 minutes, I could not figure out how old i was.
I've always considered age to be a fact. Many people lie about age- older to get into a bar, younger to feel better about themself- but each person has a true age. In korea, age is looked at much differently and is a much more fluid concept. When a baby is born, it is 1 year old. Then, reguardless of their birthday, everyone ages a year at the same time... that time being not quite clear. Some people think they age on January 1st, others think on lunar new year and many children think they age when the new school year begins in March. Nobody is quite sure, and nobody is in much of a hurry to sort this issue out.
When I arrived in korea, I was 23 years old US and 25 years old Korean. Then, on my birthday last month, my US age changed to 24, but my korean age remained the same. Now, I can say i'm 25 or 26 in korean age- it's really up to me. There is no official day in korea that my age changes.. it just happens as each person sees fit.
So, now I often find myself asking other people, " how old am I?"
maj
What a hoot!
That just cracks me up. You know you're going to be slightly confused now for, like, ever. Park of you will always be thinking "uh, no, wait, was that in Korean-years or... dang." And then you'll have to look at your driver's license and do the math. Haw!
I love how you start and end with the (almost) same question. Cute!
maj
Older?
When is the lunar New Year anyway? Coming up or just passed? I'd love to hear about everyone celebrating a collective birthday!
jani
February 18
...or this Sunday, that is. And I'm so glad I've spent the last two weeks away from Singapore, where Chinese New Year marketing is like commercial Christmas on crack: songs whose lyrics consist entirely of gong xi gong xi gong xi ni playing in a endless loop, everything decked out with red and gold, and my mailbox stuffed to bursting with ads for Abundant Prosperity pizzas (Pizza Hut's version has sesame seeds, pork floss, sweet bacon and lime mayo), Prosperous Abundance mutual funds and Abundantly Prosperous Double Happiness insect repellants. But I'll be back just in time for the most important event: the food, the glorious food! Here's a tip for pescaterians too: Yusheng. Jixiang hua!
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