Time schedule for life and judges

Some people still claim that there is a proper age and timetable for college careers and life in general, and attack people who are "behind schedule." Admittedly, I am older than the average MBA student; in my class, we range from 22-35, so I am not the oldest, nor am I the youngest. This would be forgivable if I had any professional work experience in an office, in the field I am specializing in, or in any real accomplishment not related to education. As it stands, I do not; thankfully, only a minority of people remind me of this. My uncle and aunt wrote on the congratulations card for my bachelor's degree "Good job on the 10-year university track," my great aunt and uncle said "You are behind in development and in life," and my supervisor at the USA Pavilion has been especially honest and observant with me.

Every department has been alloted a budget to go out as a group and eat together; this will bind people as a group and enhance morale within the department. On one night in July, the Finance department went out as a group to a local hotpot restaurant. My supervisors Jun and Emily and my coworkers Carol and Jing were also in attendance. I have been in situations before where I was the only person who does not understand what the others are saying, for instance at my friend Ilya's house where only Russian speakers live, and my friend Shaul's house where only Hebrew speakers were at the table with me. Needless to say, it makes one extremely uncomfortable. That night in July, all four of my coworkers decided to speak only in Mandarin; being ethnically Chinese, they speak it far more fluently than I do. As if that weren't enough, when Jun ordered the food he said "Mark, you're obviously not on a diet so I should order a lot of food." He asked if I wanted beer, and I said yes; unfortunately, no one else did. So not only was I the only one who did not understand what was being said, I was also going to be the only drinker. To be fair, at a couple of points during the meal, he spoke in English for my benefit. "Look at Emily, Carol, Jing and me: Emily and I graduated from top universities in China, Carol graduated from Cornell, and Jing graduated from UCLA. You are not even in a state school, only a city university." "You only have work experience in restaurants? Who referred you to this job anyway? You are at least 5 years behind in life, what are you going to do with yourself?" Although the drinking of alcohol might have softened the blow of some of this honesty, I did not want to be the only drinker; this would have been even more uncomfortable if that were possible. After I finished eating, I got up to leave earlier than the rest; Jun said "No, we're all about to leave, you can go home with Jing and Carol." So I was effectively trapped at that point, but luckily he just decided to say things I would not understand for the rest of the meal.

I did try to counter his attacks by saying things like "If you could only see me 5 years ago, you would congratulate me instead of telling me how old I am. I could still be delivering pizza, waiting tables, making sandwiches, or any of the other myriad jobs I have had in my life; instead, I decided to go to school and change my life." He, like some other people I will probably always encounter, will always harass me about my age. I have noticed, and been told by other people, that Chinese people tend to be extremely honest and things we would not say to one another (your acne looks bad, how much money do you make?, how much was your house?, you're quite fat, etc.) are common expressions here. Chinese friends have told me not to care about them and that older people like him are usually the ones to say those things. I have heard them so many times that I have to let them roll off my shoulder or else I will go crazy and start fights (not good).

Anyway, I try not to get angry to his face because I want a recommendation letter from him at the end of my time at the USAP. It gets more challenging as time goes by, unfortunately.