Kinokuniya

On Wednesday, Jeff and I visited Kinokuniya, a bookstore over in Seattle. They carry a large selection of books in Japanese and a smaller selection in Chinese. I was very surprised to discover that almost everything I picked up is traditional Hanzi, which is what our girl can read. Mainland China uses simplified Hanzi, while Hong Kong and Taiwan use traditional.

I know most of my posts lately have been about buying stuff for our future daughter. It's one of the few ways I can feel close to her as we prayerfully await Chung Yi's decision about continuing our adoption process. Our part of the adoption process is done until everything is submitted to court and then processed by the judge. In the meantime, we wait, we pray, and we shop to prepare for her arrival home.

I had a lot of fun in the bookstore. I spent two years studying Japanese so can read a little bit. Unfortunately, I'm a bit rusty but I still had fun picking out words here and there at the bookstore. I'm now learning Chinese and can read a lot of basic sentences. So it was fun for me to explore a bookstore that I can read in tiny pieces.

My best find? Something I desperately wanted to bring home but left there for now.

Title: How to Cook Korean Food
Language: Chinese
Country purchased: United States

I loved how that book is basically circling the world! I would love to experience the irony of learning how to cook Korean food in America while reading a book in Chinese.

We ended up buying three different manga titles, either the first two or three in the series. A book of paper dolls. And an activity/sticker book about Minnie Mouse. I hope that having books in her own language will help Zhi Zhi feel like she won't be so lost here in the US. I can't wait to show her!