Ethiopia is a country that literally lives in a different time compared to most of the world. It uses the Ethiopian calendar, which is based on the ancient Coptic calendar. This system consists of 13 months: 12 months of exactly 30 days each, and a final 13th month called 'Pagume' which has five days (or six in a leap year). Because of a different calculation regarding the birth of Jesus Christ, the Ethiopian calendar is approximately seven to eight years behind the Gregorian calendar used in most other countries. For example, when the rest of the world celebrated the arrival of the year 2000, Ethiopia was still in the early 1990s. Furthermore, Ethiopians measure time differently within the day as well; the daily clock starts at dawn rather than midnight. '1:00' in Ethiopian time corresponds to 7:00 AM in international time. This unique cultural heritage emphasizes Ethiopia's history as one of the few African nations to remain largely uncolonized and maintain its traditional systems.