Age

I (Margaret) am 27 years old.  No, you have not forgotten my birthday.  In Korean age I gained two years.  My international age (everywhere but Korea) is still 25.  This is very confusing, but I'll see if I can explain why.  In Korea, everyone is born at age 1.  That is the easy part, you just add one to your age, and its your Korean age.  However, after the new year, people started saying their age was two years older than their international age.  So, everyone's birthday is the new year, even if your actual birthday is later.  So, in March I will turn 26 international age, but my Korean age will still be 27. 

If you visit Korea, the conversation when you meet someone will go"Hello, What is your name? Where are you from? How old are you?"  If you are sensitive about your age, this may not be the best place for you.  In Korea, the words you use to talk to a person is determined by how much older or younger they are to you.  If you are Korean you con only be friends with people your age, or at the most 2 years older or younger than you.  Otherwise, if they are older, you have to call them older brother or older sister (which are different if you yourself are a girl or boy) and use a more polite language.  Luckily, foreigners don't count!  Koreans like foreigners regardless of age to practice English on.  Riley and I are novelties here.  As we learn Korean, we will probably have to start paying more attention to what words we use when we talk to people older than us (you can be very informal to people younger than you).  Its nice being a foreigner, if you mess up and say the wrong words you are excused from being rude because you are expected not to know better!