Day 55: 27

"Hi! I'm Scott. I'm 27 years old!"

Is this a false statement?

Not in Korea...

You may be interested to learn that Koreans measure age differently than Westerners. When a baby is born in Korea, it comes out as one year old. Unlike in North America where we don't start counting age until the baby has emerged from the womb, Koreans count the 9 months from conception to birth as one year of age. So right off the bat their babies are one year older than ours.

So where does the second extra year come from?

Although Korea now follows the Gregorian calendar like the rest of the world, traditionally it used to be a nation strongly influenced by Buddhist/Confucian-ideologies. A lot of Asian cultures celebrate the New Year differently than we do, which instead follows a Lunar calendar, and that is why Asian New Year is celebrated in February (and occasionally late January.) Koreans believe that when a baby experiences its first New Year's, it also gains another year then. After that they measure age the same way that we do. So in other words, two babies could be born, one in Canada, one in Korea, both in December, but just two months later the Korean baby would be considered to be two years old, while the Canadian baby wouldn't have even reached one year yet.

Fascinating!

So, technically, since I am living in Korea, I am considered by many of my colleagues to be 27 years old. And that means this August I'll be turning...28!!?? Wow! Where did all those years go! How come I have no recollection of my 26th or 27th birthday? Was I that drunk? How long was I passed out for?
Haha!! It's an interesting cultural difference, for sure!