Her exposed neck and 90’s style chocker are hard to see at some angles because of the window behind her. It's sunny out even though the smog of Hanoi is trying to mask it.
Rimmi Johnson, an Australian local, is sitting inside her four-story townhouse in Hanoi, Vietnam. It’s one home of many she has had in the last four years. Johnson has been here for a few weeks and will only be here for a couple of months, as is her life. She sits down with a cup of coffee to tell me how she got there.
Johnson’s transient life started with an overwhelming long stay in China teaching English and since then has found herself with a new company, a couple of promotions, and numerous countries. With intense highs and lows, there’s no way this life fits everyone. But its certainty suits her well.
The day-to-day life in Australia gave her the kick to leave. “It was extremely painful and boring, and it just felt like I was slowly suffocating,” she says. Her world had become mundane. The same thing, people, stories, and feelings weren’t giving her the satisfaction that it gives some. So, she found teaching English abroad a very accessible way to get out.
English is the most spoken second language in the world. There are more people speaking English as a second language than there are native speakers. This has resulted in huge demand for English teachers, especially in China, Japan, and Southeast Asia. Many young adults, the millennial generation, are finding themselves with University degrees and no place to use them. Making this living and working abroad lifestyle look very appealing.
As expected for this millennial, major life changes like this don’t come without their caveats. Speaking about the first new country of residence, China, Johnson paints it mostly grey. Trying to put the feelings into words, doesn’t come with such ease as the rest. “The feeling of aloneness in China is unlike any other place,” she explains. “The atmosphere in that country is really dense”. It was a strange time for her, but she insists that having struggles in China set the stage for everything else. “You’re kind of permanently happy after. I’ve been changed forever because of how miserable I have been,” she laughs. She mentions one time when she broke her leg. She doesn’t elaborate on the story but sternly advises “Don’t do it”.
When asked about common feelings that arise when living abroad Johnson talks about this overhanging feeling of concern. “There’s always something you have to do.” She continues to explain it may be a visa approval or meeting with the landlord or an important phone number you need to find. There are these to-do lists that are more than that. They are things that must be done for your survival. In your home country, you can often shut down that part of your brain. Being transient, you are constantly on edge. She continues to explain she is currently quite relaxed because she knows she will be staying in Hanoi for the next three months. So, she can plan out her life for a little bit. She can find those times to just ‘be’.
This deep anxiety is often followed but pure euphoria. “Peaks and valleys,” Johnson says numerous times. When that anxiety comes to fruition it can be bad. She had a time where she did not have a place to live yet, she did not yet know anyone or her surroundings and did not know what her next move was going to be. “I had suddenly become aware of how acutely chaotic my life is.” That thought shut her down. She locked her hotel door and stayed in her room for 5 days.
Even with the anxiety, she insists it’s all worth it. There are these “magic moments” that would not be possible if she was sitting in the comforts of her own country. She experienced a sunset from an airplane unlike anything else. “It was estuarial. Those clouds, I’ve never seen cloud formations like that. It was actual heaven.”
Johnson talks about other trials and tribulations as well. Her family and friends show a disconnect to what she’s doing, there is always something back home she might be missing out on, she is constantly watching her belongings, goes through severe feelings of dread before moving to a new location, and knows her future has a serious lack of security. So, why is she still plunging into country to country for a job that requires dealing with such stress? “It’s such an experience. I would probably do it all over again.” Rimmi claims even with the strains she also has mental clarity, a greater sense of identity, vastly improved interpersonal skills, and most importantly a “backlog catalogue of experiences”.
We end by talking about some more direct advice. “Just do it. Even if you just got that couch and you love that couch. Fuck your couch. Sell it, get rid of it. If you really want to try this lifestyle just make it happen.”
Rimmi Johnson currently works for Ignis Tech, an online English teaching company based in Suzhou, China. She works as an ESL teacher, recruiter, trainer and manager. She plans to keep her transient life for another 10 years before returning to Australia.