2010
I never really enjoyed my birthday as a child because it was a bit too close to Christmas for comfort and, due to the scheduling of school holidays, it usually ended up being the day or day-after the end of winter break.
This year I realized that not much has changed. Last year I actually skipped my birthday due to the cosmic pull of international travel (left the U.S. on January 2nd/ arrived in Korea on January 4th); and this year my birthday ended up being the weekend after my first week teaching.
Nevertheless, with age comes wisdom and this year I realized that it is nice to get a fresh start with a new year just as I am turning another year older.
All Koreans age with the new year. It is simply the way that Korean age is calculated. A baby is born 1-year-old and as soon as the new year turns over turns 2. By their calculation a baby born on December 1st would be 1 year old, and after one month in the world on January 1st would be 2.
It was interesting to see that as all the Westerners were excited about celebrating New Years Eve (which isn't a major holiday here--most Koreans save their celebrations for Lunar New Year, which usually comes in late January/early February), most of the Korean professors viewed it with dread. I heard "but it means we're getting older" many times.
This consistent refrain made me wonder about the cultural concept of the new year. The common western image is of the Old Man yielding to the Bouncing Baby each January 1st. Though I am now not sure that this concept is universal, I am happy to be starting fresh yet again!
This year I realized that not much has changed. Last year I actually skipped my birthday due to the cosmic pull of international travel (left the U.S. on January 2nd/ arrived in Korea on January 4th); and this year my birthday ended up being the weekend after my first week teaching.
Nevertheless, with age comes wisdom and this year I realized that it is nice to get a fresh start with a new year just as I am turning another year older.
All Koreans age with the new year. It is simply the way that Korean age is calculated. A baby is born 1-year-old and as soon as the new year turns over turns 2. By their calculation a baby born on December 1st would be 1 year old, and after one month in the world on January 1st would be 2.
It was interesting to see that as all the Westerners were excited about celebrating New Years Eve (which isn't a major holiday here--most Koreans save their celebrations for Lunar New Year, which usually comes in late January/early February), most of the Korean professors viewed it with dread. I heard "but it means we're getting older" many times.
This consistent refrain made me wonder about the cultural concept of the new year. The common western image is of the Old Man yielding to the Bouncing Baby each January 1st. Though I am now not sure that this concept is universal, I am happy to be starting fresh yet again!