To boldly go, or not... A retrospective piece on starting out in China.

Hello everyone and welcome to the first in a, soon to be long, line of edcentric blogs. Written by members of staff as well as all of our interns from all over China, the purpose of this blog is to offer advice and insight to all those yet to make the transition to life in China.

​Whether it be fear of the unknown holding you back or maybe just that a life in China never held much sway in your mind up until now...

I want this blog to provide the tools to help you make the right decision for your next step in life. So without further ado...

A quick introduction

For those of you that have visited and had a look around the website you might know who I am. For those of you that haven't then I'm a complete stranger to you. Nevertheless let me introduce myself to you all.

My name is Shea Brewer and I'm from London. I am a member of the edcentric team and I am also a teacher of English as a foreign language and have been for the last 9 years. Over the course of my time here I have worked in all kinds of schools and training institutes; I have taught students of all ages in a variety of different environments and I have even stood in front of classes of 60 plus students and......

I've enjoyed every second of it.

As teachers, you'll do anything to make your students happy. Dressing like a clown is just one of them. I'm the one in those dashing purple pants, just so you know.

But that's the funny thing. Teaching is a career I had never prepared for, a vocation I had never put much thought into when I was in school. Yet here I am, just shy of a decade and still going strong.  Whenever I look back on my time and wonder what exactly it was that kickstarted my career I come to one conclusion each time.

An amazing first experience

This was the crux of it, this is what kickstarted a life long passion to teach in China. 10 years on and I still remember my first time; I still remember the very first day on the job; I still remember the feeling I felt the very first time I stepped into the classroom; I still remember the amazing friends I made during those 6 months and all the wonderful memories we made together.

I could very easily write an entire books worth of blogs on that time of my life alone and I certainly do intend to share a few of those experiences with you all in later editions. Alas thats for another day.

The point I'm trying to make now is that the new life you are trying to create for yourself will be moulded by your very first experience. It will make or break you. Just as a good experience has kept me going strong 10 years on, a bad experience could just as easily scare you away within weeks of you arriving' leaving all of that potential untapped.

One of my first outings in Beijing, during my orientation period.

It's not to say that the remaining 9 years of my life in China have been dull in comparison because thats not the case at all. It's just that those first 6 months were so vivid, so unique, so full of happiness and joy to warrant an extended look into this mysterious and beautiful country upon completion of that "trial period" so to speak.

My "trial period" was full of happy memories however and I'm not so naive as to expect that everyone else will have or will have had such a positive experience. Conversely, I've heard plenty of horror stories about expats in China and I'm sure you have too. And then I think to myself, could it be that these very horror stories are what's holding you back from bravely stepping into a brand new life. You have doubts and fears about what to expect and I don't blame you. I had those very same doubts and those very same fears all those years ago but I took the leap.

And here I am a decade later.

There is never a dull moment in Changsha.

And this is what drove me to create edcentric.

Driven by the desire to help as many other people as possible find a better version of themselves in this fascinating country.

Put your trust in edcentric and take a leap of faith.

We won't fail you.


​I... won't fail you.

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Written by Shea Brewer