Tomorrow, March 2nd, 2006, Clark turns one year old.
At least, according to US East Coast time.
You see, since he was born in Korea, his March 2nd, 2005, happened fourteen hours before "ours" did. So, in actual chronological fact, his birthday is now.
What I find most interesting about all this is that for the rest of his life, assuming he lives somewhere in the EST zone, he will always actually be fourteen hours older than we think he is.
More fun birthday bits from the Land of Morning Calm (and I hope I have this right, please correct me if I have it mixed up). In Korea, a child's first birthday is traditionally a Very Big Deal, with attached ceremony and massive family gathering. We'll be mimicking some of that this weekend, actually. But beyond that, there isn't much birthdaying going on, at least, not in the Western sense of Chuck E. Cheese's and Pin the Tail on the Donkey. Although birthdays are tracked for official purposes, instead of an annual individual celebration, the whole country just considers themselves one year older at the start of each new year. It's a very blatant display of the standard Asian culture philosophy of valuing the group over the individual!
Also, Koreans count their ages according to the start of the year, not the end as Americans do. They think of themselves as being born at age one. So in Korean terms, Clark is actually turning two, because he is beginning his second year of life.
Which, as I said, really began today.
