FULL CIRCLE: I've come a long way in my Chinese education. Last week, I was the one shouting "TOILET", when a man couldn't seem to understand that I wanted a restaurant and not a rest room. Last night, a Chinese man shouted "TOILET" at me. Now that's progress.

I was sleeping peacefully -- or as peacefully as one can in a room where it is perpetually 58 degrees -- when the phone rang. It was the front desk and the man there, initially polite, was asking me if something was "OK?". I was groggy and his accent was thicker than the crowds at the Forbidden City. We went through the frustrating cycle several times but I just couldn't understand the focus of his question.

Finally, he'd had it with the boneheaded  American. "Your TOILET!" he screamed. "Is it OK?" I told him that, yes, as far as I knew it was wonderful. "Oh, sorry," he said. "Wrong room."