how old are you? Really …
It’s a simple, common question ~ but the answer is much more complicated.
Koreans count their age at birth as ‘1 year’ and move up to ‘2 years’ at the next Lunar New Year. This can cause many problems in the schools. Grade 1 is age “14”, but the child may actually be 12. For example, a child born on February 1, 1997 (1 year) would be 2 years old on February 7, 1997 and 3 years old on the following Lunar New Year’s day. So, the kids in Grade 1 are actually ages 12-14 in Gregorian calendar years, at the beginning of the school term. Of course, age disparity increases over the year, so Grade 1 is potentially a span from 12-15 years old ~ in one classroom. Take that times 21 (7 classrooms x 3 Grades) and you’ve got a royal mess.
My birthday is July 9. However, according to the lunisolar calendar, my birthday is to be celebrated in Korea on June 11, 2009 ~ unfortunately, I would be much (at least 1, maybe 2 years) older than I prefer … let’s stick with the Gregorian calendar, shall we?
I love “my boys” and they love me …
Regardless of age.
As it should be.
Tags: 1
Nancy
April 11th, 2009 at 4:35 am
It was nice talking to yu today – I didn’t know if it was necessary for me to have a blog to respond to you so I did sign up for one. Is it necessary? I am very illiterate when it comes to this stuff – as you well know. Once I get it down, I promise I will write more. I love reading your blog though.
Kathy