U R correct, Mili on the pros & cons of living alone in abroad for so long. Like U, me too living alone in China since 1997 and I cld understand all that U said on "living along......is pathetic". But, what cld we do? We selected this life and so we need to face the things as they come to us as they are. For me, what hurts me a lot is, having nobody with us to share all our love, affections, emotions, ideas, etc. U R most welcome to have a chat/mail with/to me thru 'ksv19641111@yahoo.com' OR 'ksv19641111@rediffmail.com'