What year is it anyway? Hint: not 2009.

On my journey thus far, I have been to two countries for which the year is not, in fact, 2009.

In Ethiopia, I just missed the Y2k party, and am actually still chilling out in 2001.

Over in Taiwan, I'm actually getting ready to celebrate the year 100, since it's year 98.

I never figured out why it's still 2001 in Ethiopia, figuring the Ethiopian calendar had something to do with the Ethiopian Orthodox Christian church. Besides, the fact that I was still in 2001 in Ethiopia was just one of many eccentricities in Ethiopia; the clock begins at 6 am (sunrise) which is 0:00. Noon is thus 6 o'clock, 6 pm (sunset) is 12 o'clock. Things run differently in Ethiopia. Accept it.

A side note, since we are talking about numbers in Ethiopia. I learned the ever-useful phrase, "How much is this?" in Amharic, but neglected to study my numbers carefully. I learned 1-7 (and this is the only thing I can repeat on command). Intriguingly, the number of 7 is sabbat, i.e., the sabbath. Cool.

Well, Taiwan is currently in year 98. More specifically, it's the Republican year of 98, denoting the fact that the Republic of China was founded in 1911, the year the Qing dynasty fell. There's kind of an interesting story here about Taiwan, which is officially the "Republic of China" after Chiang Kai-shek fled the mainland in 1949.

For a country to even consider using a different calendar, other than the standard Gregorian calendar, is, I think, a sign of nationalism. I kind of enjoy it, getting little receipts that are dated with the year 98, or the giant electronic clock in Taiwan's post office that says "Republican Year 98." Or the giant millenium celebration billboard in Addis Ababa that was put up just last year. It's kind of endearing.