Lifted from various emails:

…So far entirely uneventful. We are sitting in Copenhagen, waiting for our next flight. But I did get a message that they are nominating me for some other prize at the university!
lots of love from this country where people make very strange sounds in their throats,
—mom

…Well we are here in Beijing. We can’t exactly report on having seen anything yet since there is so much smog here it is like a blanket against the windowpane. Add to that the fact that we are staying in the “Vision Hotel” and you can already imagine T’s dry remarks…

…The Engrish began already in the airport, with signs in the bathroom: The Beijing Patriotic Hygiene Society enjoined us not to throw trash on the floor and the stall door requested that we lock it for our convenience… You guys would have peed your pants even before you got through passport control.

…We are going to rest a bit and try to recover from the trip. Which, by the way, was made infinitely better by the kindle! I got to read wonderful texts in Russian, Czech, Norwegian, Sami and English! I love you!!!!!

…So due to some mix-up we wound up in a 5-star hotel (“Vision”, remember?) instead of the crumbling Soviet-era period piece down the street (which we also walked through to get to the restaurant). There is a pool and sauna on the 13th floor. I expect to be spending some time there daily!

…Now for a mystery. Next to all of the light switches (and in many other random spots) there are little signs to explain to the dumb foreigners what things are and what to do. So we have “bathroom light”, “bathroom mirror light”,  “bedside lamp”, “reading light”. These are all ok, but among them is the mysterious “Sleeping Switch”. What will happen when we press it? Will we all fall asleep? Could be dangerous. I couldn’t find any “Wake Up Switch”