Funny, my friend and I had the EXACT same experience in 2006-2007. We had a fellow Australian woman working with us who also did the overnight escape but I don't think she ended up calling. I can't believe nothing has changed. When we first got to Shenyang we were naive and under the impression that we would get a decent home because Suzanne used to live in it with her 3 trillion biological babies. We assumed this because she is / was American so we just thought she would live under almost the same hygiene rules as us. Anyways, we got picked up by her giant intimidating husband and got dropped off to this home which at first glance after an 18-hour flight seemed decent. Then we realised nothing including the toilets had even been cleaned. Moreover, there were so many roaches, they were competing for space in the daylight! It was so bad. She offered to get the place exterminated and we said no. We checked into the Holiday Inn and told her to figure something out b/c we would not be going back there. She eventually moved us to Tiexi, which was far from town but it was a brand new apartment and conveniently next door to her! Oh, it was just a horrible experience. A word of advice, if you do end up working for the woman, do not let her intimidate you! She will try because she takes advantage of the fact that you are so far from home and leaving you feel like you have no other options but you do. English teachers are not dropping out of the sky in Shenyang and there are other great places to work. In fact, another colleague also left this awful school and is still in Shenyang!