Ni Hao, Kai-Lan

my coworker told me about this cartoon today and im a big fan already. i love the drawings of the characters, they are adorable! and its a learning show that aims to teach kids mandarin at the same time. just based on that alone, its already a big plus in my book. the premise is described as "what it's like to be bicultural in america, as seen through the eyes of an inquisitive 5-year-old chinese american girl living within a multigenerational household. kai-lan is an empathetic playmate who lives in a fantastical world, a girl who embraces asian tradition in a contemporary milieu." i almost wish this cartoon was around when i was growing up.

the show debuted last year and was created by karen chao who is the same age as me. a bit sobering as my life is nowhere near as interesting as hers. the show is based on her childhood memories on growing up with "two overachieving brothers, a doting immigrant grandfather and a father with one foot in the old world and one in the new." she graduated from uc irvine in 2000 with a digital arts degree and had posted some of her drawings on a website where it was seen by a nickelodeon executive and it just went on from there. isnt that what everyone dreams of? to just be randomly discovered one day and land the plum job of your life.

this actually happened to one of my friends a couple years ago. she was out in colorado skiing and happened to be on the same ski lift as steve wynn and they got to talking and he asked her what her current job was (accounting) and whether it was what she wanted to do in her life. well of course nobody loves being an accountant and so her answer was that she would love to somehow be involved in the wine industry and just like that, he offered her a job as a sommelier at his soon to be opened hotel in las vegas. yes as in the wynn hotel. pretty incredible isnt it and to this day, shes still in the wine industry and has ditched accounting for good.

i often wish that my chinese was better or that i had paid more attention in chinese school instead of cheating on tests all the time or maybe had the foresight to take chinese classes during college because i would definitely want my kids to be able to speak mandarin when they grow up but seeing how mine isnt that great, im sure theirs will be even worse than mine. unless of course i marry a fob but thats highly unlikely.

ni hao, kai-lan is now going to be my default gift for my friends who seem to be getting pregnant left and right these days. assuming they are chinese of course and im going to get it for my kids too. forget dora the explorer its kai-lan all the way!

now i just need to go home and set this up on my dvr so i can watch and brush up on my chinese.