Working in China can be quite an experience, not necessarily for the better, either. I would like to help and offer some advice on how to deal with people who may want to be stupid to you and make your life miserable. However my experience can be limited and I hope others on this board can also share some experiences with co-workers from foreign countries.

For me the biggest issue has been dealing with others who want to ask me about what languages I speak. I have mostly let off ambiguous answers as I don't think any other language besides English at these schools are needed. I mean c'mon, so what if I can speak Martian, Chinese, or ancient Babylonian? It's none of your business!! This has been the attitude that I've taken.

When my co-workers know I can understand them. Some of them obviously take an antagonistic, jealous approach and try to mess with my head. From which I either give them the cold shoulder or I will be "respectfully sarcastic" and reply to them by stating the point that I DON'T TAKE ANY CRAP. Of course there are infinite combinations that you can use for stating this but in the end people will back off, that's the most important point.

Others like DOS's or co-workers may try to rip you off by giving you little extra tasks which they try to speak as if it's harmless and only a "favor". Be careful of these as agreeing to "favors" can mean an extra couple hours of misery that you will regret. Bosses will also do this by suddenly giving you extra classess. They may want to make the decision for you, just pay attention with how they talk. Even if you're being paid for the extra hours please remember that YOUR TIME IS THE MOST VALUABLE ASSET THAT YOU HAVE, AND MONEY DOESN'T ALWAYS MATTER.

Don't always feel intimidated and beat yourself up by putting ideas into your own head that you're a guest here, that you're supposed to respect the culture, that you shouldn't turn others down, etc. These things can only serve to drag yourself down. It's letting these thoughts go that you can just be yourself, then you'll realize that idiots are the same everywhere, crap is the same, and always sticking up for yourself no matter where you are is the best way to go.