Dong Hyun’s birthday fell on the equinox this year. Many Koreans, like MyeongHee and her son, follow the Lunar calendar when it comes to special events like birthday and anniversaries of deaths. It’s now wonder that she forgot his birthday last year.

So, this year, she made plenty of myeok-guk – a seaweed soup that is traditional on birthday. Last year he got his soup the day after.

We also bought him a mp3/mp4 players so he can listen to music or watch videos during the long school-enforced self-studyperiods after classes are over.  He liked that. Electronic gizmos are status symbols here in Korea and he had only a small hand phone. Now he’s shooting from both hips and is a happy camper.

I can’t remember how old he is. Like I’ve mentioned before, Koreans are one year old at birth and change on New Years Day. So, he’s either 17 (American age) or 18 but won’t change the number until January, which is not the Lunar New Year they all celebrate heavily. It’s hard to keep track of dates here. I think he’ll be 20 (Korean age) in January.