It’s Jenny’s birthday tomorrow (as if you didn’t know). I don’t know how old she is (honestly).
A lot of people ask me what shes’ really like. Well, as we all know she’s very smart.You also probably know that she has a real Shanghainese elegance about her, etc.
But I guess you’re probably more interested in hearing things that you don’t already know about her. OK.
First off, she’s really, really patient. I’ve never seen her get moody or short. She’s always the same, agreeable person, regardless of when things go wrong, or when the recordings get dragged out way beyond the schedule. (That, er, happens, sometimes.) I’ve never seen her in a bad mood.
She’s also totally at ease in both English and Chinese. I’ve seen lots of people speaking broken Chinese, trying, painfully to talk to her, and she always responds patiently and without taking recourse to English. She doesn’t have this need to show off her obvious smarts (a need that is all too common). In the same way she gets along with just about everyone and treats them all pretty much the same way – pleasantly.
To be honest, when she started she showed natural talent, but I never thought she would grow into the role the way she has.
I could go on, but I don’t want to embarrass her.
Oh, and there’s one more thing: it appears (though I can’t be certain) that she still hasn’t found Mr Right. Now you know.
From all of us at the factory, happy birthday, Jenny.
Ken Carroll
pretzellogic on 
Andrew Cockerham on 
Dave on
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Happy Birthday Jen Zhu! God Bless You.
Bazza,
Mystery solved! It’s 朱琦. According to Jenny: “…我的姓名只有两个字“…” (http://zh.chinesepod.com/podcast/2006/07/26/高级5-姓名的起源/, around the 2:42 mark). She also said her parents had called her 朱美玉。
Interesting. I have a friend whose name is Zhu Qi but he is a man. Different character for Qi.
Ok Art Kho, I’ll believe you.
I can get my ‘我爱朱琦’ tattoo done now then LOL.
Well Bazza,
I just heard the Saturday Show, aka, the Jenny show this week. Aric wants to meet with you when he is in England. Perhaps he can video you getting your ‘我爱朱琦’ tattoo!
Hmmm, perhaps you should tell Ken to change the Chinesepod logo to your ‘我爱朱琦’ tattoo. 
Thanks for that Bazza, and for the link to the online dictionary, much better than the online dictionary. I’ll buy you a 啤酒 on Gerrard Street any time you care to name :–)
Cheers
华森
Hmmm that was supposed to read much better than the ones I know about.
华森
Huasen, I think you meant to thank Art Kho there.
So I did, thanks Art Kho.
华森
Jenny – Happy Happy Birthday to you! I would like to nominate you as China’s #1 Ambassador to the World for 2006!!! Because of you and ChinesePod, I took my first trip ever to China last month. I have naturally fallen in love with Shanghai and plan to move to China in 2007 – All because of Jenny!! This time last year I would not have dreamed of living in China and now it is my daily obsession and goal. Jenny and ChinesePod (and Ken!) have opened my eyes to the wonders of China. To think of countless others who have been affected as I have is astounding. Congratulations and keep up the great work!
Thank you for all that you do and Happy Birthday Jenny!
Happy belated birthday, Jenny. I listen to Chinesepod everyday day on our living room stereo, so you and Ken have become my friends! – in a virtual way. My parents were Shanghainese, and so I finally made a step to acquire some language skills with your podcasts. So far so good. Your energy and zest on the podcasts has made me very motivated to learn Mandarin even though I have a long way to go… Since I constantly heard Mandarin and Shanghainese growing up, I have been able to make good progress. My regret is that I didn’t want to learn Chinese at a young age.
I, too, visited China/Shanghai for the first time and was simply amazed at discovering my ancestral roots. (My mother was pregnant with me when she left Shanghai for New York City.) With a cousin, I visited the street in Jiading, where my grandfather built a family house – long destroyed in the Sino Japanese War. Recently, I met several cousins in Beijing and Shanghai who understood some of my ChinesePod-acquired Mandarin! Since my visit was so short, I am hoping, of course, to return to China. As a Chinese-American, re-discovering oneself in China is a profound life altering event.
Thank you for your work on ChinesePod.
Bob Hsiang
San Francisco, CA
Suk Sun Wan Kert!! KunKru Jenny:)
= Happy Birthday Teacher Jenny
( since I’m from Thailand..that’s happy birthday in Thai;) )
Thank you for making such a great Mandarin learning centre
Bob,
As someone who has been away from my own roots for many years, I think yours is a great story. I’m really glad if we can contribute in some small way to make this happen.
Ken Carroll
Hi,
生日快樂 from Philadelphia and all that. Its a little late. 真對不起. I was wondering Jenny, if you read this, how old are you? I didn’t see it mentioned. Keep up the good work.
Brendan
Brendan,
If you are interested: Aric mentioned her age in the Saturday Show last week.
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