How to calculate Korean age.

I have reached that age where, when I see my birthday approaching, instead of getting excited and counting down the days, I get a little depressed at the thought of turning another year older.  This is made worse in Korea, where a person's age is calculated in a way that makes them either 1 or 2 years older than what Koreans refer to as their "international age".  There are basically two rules to consider when calculating your Korean age:

• Rule #1: the day you are born you are 1.  I realize this makes no sense at all, especially considering that in English we usually clarify our age by following the number with "years old", but this is how Koreans do it. 
• Rule #2: everyone's age goes up one the same day; on New Year's Day.  Yesterday was New Year's and yesterday everyone in Korea got one year older.

To recap, age in Korea is dependent neither on how many years you've been alive or your actual day of birth, but rather your year of birth.  This means that if you were born on December 31st, then on your second day of life you would be 2 in Korea.

If you want to calculate your Korean age then just follow these steps:

• Step #1: +1 to your real age
• Step #2: determine if you have already had your birthday in the current calendar year.
• if yes, then you have already finished calculating your Korean age
• if no, then +1 more the number you reached after step #1