I believe I was in fourth grade when I first learned of Pokemon (I'm 20 now, so I was like 9 or 10 at the time). I remember coming home from school one day and flipping on the TV, and this cartoon was on one of the channels with these cute animal-like creatures that were speaking some weird languages, but there were subtitles to see what they were saying.
Yeah, that was the Pokemon episode titled "Island of the Giant Pokemon." I loved it and thought the Pokemon were so cool and cute that I kept watching the show every day after school.
I guess that's where it started. Back then, EVERYONE in my grade loved Pokemon. Some of the girls did, but certainly all of the boys. I remember during break/snack time, they'd have their Pokemon cards or video games out, and I used to watch them play.
It wasn't until I was about 12 that I got my first Pokemon game - Pokemon Silver Version.
Since then, I've been a die hard Pokemon fan, and will probably continue to be one for a long time.