The issue is: Whether I can keep a quasi-semi-subsidized apartment if I am absent a lot because I am working in China. This is Kafkaesque, because I have been unable to even get an interview anywhere in the US in the field I have experience in (Academia). I know I could probably find other types of work more easily, and I have worked for years as a pot and pan washer in a nursing home, as a supermarket cashier, as a waitress, salesperson, etc., but I have an opportunity to teach in a university in China, but I have been informed that my the space in my apartment needs to be utilized more than as a kind of commuter residence.

I guess I could have remained silent about my absence, but because of the necessity of paying monthly rent, I needed support in the form of friends, etc., submitting my rent checks every month. (Somehow sending checks monthly from China, might eventually raise suspicion of my absence, DUH!)Anyway, such support is lacking in my life. Even getting that kind of help would have been a temporary, stop gap measure, because eventually someone would notice my absence and the S**T would hit the fan!

Perhaps there is more competition for academic appointments in the US, than in China and that is why I have had more luck in getting an offer to teach in a university in China. Or perhaps it is because there are more unemployed Ph.D.'s looking for academic appointments in the US and since I only have a Masters degree, I am hardly ever offered even an interview, even though I have experience teaching at universities and at other colleges, community colleges, etc. Perhaps I need to be related to, or to know the right people, be in the right place at the right time, network more, send out more CV's, etc. Maybe I have stepped on toes? My older brother told me: "Barbara, you have enemies." (When I asked him who these "enemies" were, he refused to tell me, so maybe my own brother is my "enemy"!

He certainly could be more helpful, especially now, when I could use advice in this dilemma. He kind of "owes" me that, because I always had to follow in his footsteps". In other words, he was "The golden boy" Tall, handsome, and charming, he made SUCH an impression on my Mom and Dad, and later on the nuns, priests, etc., at the catholic grammar school we attended, that I was always known as "OH, you are Francis' (later Frank's) sister"! He always looked, to me at least, like Paul Newman, the actor.

However, he seems unwilling to give me any advice. I've tried contacting him. I've tried apologized for anything I have done and I've repeatedly asked for his forgiveness, which is yet to be forthcoming. So I am trying to figure out ways to deal with this issue, which may, in fact be a problem others may soon have to deal with. Because, after all, if the world IS "getting smaller" in the sense of the world becoming a "Village", what with faster and better transportation, etc. Nonstop 14 hour flights to and from China to major cities in the US may eventually make commuting to China more and more popular.

I am trying to consider any and all ways to proceed: break my 1 year lease now that is up in January and store and/or sell my furniture,car, etc. Wait til January and try to renegotiate the lease, maybe pay more, to allow me to use the apartment temporarily, etc., as a commuter apartment, put my "head in the sand", and see what happens, try to get a roommate, get married, and let my spouse remain in the US! lol