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Living Abroad

Living Abroad

2 Real Helps For 2 (Random) Obstacles in Korea

Ohhh, readers! I’m so sad to have been away from this blog — and youuu — for so damn long! There’s a reason, and I’ll get into it in another post soon (hint: I relocated within Korea!), but I really wanted to share something with you before I look up one day and realize, damn, this year is half over, and I haven’t blogged!

Trust, this something that I’m sharing isn’t the most valuable thing I’ve ever unleashed here, buuuut, I know it’ll be a help to a lot of you nonetheless, and it was a great, quick-and-dirty way to bang out an easy post! Killin’ a couple birds with one stone, y’all.

Anyway, the two random problems this story is addressing — they’re hella unrelated — involve food delivery and noraebang/karaoke-ing, easily two of my favorite things here. Read on!

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General, Living Abroad

5 Ways South Korea Is So Advanced + Convenient … Yet Frustratingly Behind

I adore living in the ROK … so much so that I’ve recently decided to re-up my contract at my English academy and teach here for another year. Yippee and yahoo!! Honestly, I see myself as a long-term dweller, because I like it here so much, and I’ve had a blast. So now that I’ve expressed my love and adoration for SK, I hope you won’t take this double-edged sword of a blog post the wrong way.

But, let’s talk, South Korea. You and me. Step into my office …

For all the ways you as a country are advanced — as well as considered advanced the world over — I’m afraid to say you’re a little behind the curve in ways that make me want to tear out what little hair I have. I mean … sometimes I’m about ready to pluck my leg hairs one by one. Ha!

So I wanted to let it all out — my frustrations on these five aspects in which you, South Korea, are/are seen as ahead of the curve and convenient, but, on the flip side, also woefully behind. Here I go, separating the hype from the reality …

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General, Living Abroad

How To Minimize Culture Shock When Moving Abroad

As you might imagine, relocating to the other side of the planet can be an eye-opening shock to your system in so many ways — welcome and not-so-welcome.

Learn some hot tips for minimizing culture shock as you prepare to move abroad! | FleurDeLibre.com

But somehow I’ve managed to largely avoid culture shock in moving to South Korea (except for being susceptible to respiratory woes on high-pollution days, but that’s another blog post), and I can honestly say that outside of my health challenges, adjusting here has been a big, ol’ breeze. Ready to find out how to do it yourself? I’ve got four hot tips — click on through!

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Living Abroad, Teaching

The 4 Steps I Took To Teach Abroad

4 Steps I Took To Teach in South Korea | FleurDeLibre.com

In addition to being asked why I chose South Korea as my live-overseas destinations, another question I’ve fielded very often since announcing my intention to move abroad is, “how did you do it?” There’s seemingly a million steps to uprooting yourself, so I’ll address specifically the steps I took to get to SK. I can’t say if these’ll apply to any other country, so do your due diligence and research wherever it is you’d like to land!

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Food, Living Abroad

7 Reasons South Korea Is My Spirit Country — And Might Be Yours!

So in my last post, I discussed what led me to choose South Korea as my live-abroad destination. Discovering SK was the perfect merging of happenstance and desire … kind of like a love story!

Why South Korea Is My Spirit Country -- And May Be Yours! | FleurDeLibre.com

One of the reasons? The food is killer!

Well, now I want to unpack why I think South Korea and I make such an incredible couple. Because, y’all: I am LOVING it here! From the speedy transit service, to the abundant variety of food to the go-go-go lifestyle that suits my Type A personality, SK and I were made for each other. Here are seven reasons, from the trivial to the tasty …

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Living Abroad

Why I Chose to Relocate to South Korea

Since I’ve settled into life in East Asia quite nicely, I’d like to write about a question I’ve been asked a lot since before I even moved here: “Why South Korea, Farah?”

Why I Relocated to South Korea! | FleurDeLibre.com

Well, as I outlined in my inaugural post, I happened upon teaching English as a foreign language as a fantastic way to make a living while overseas. I just needed to pick a country!

Europe Wasn’t Gonna Work …

Practically from the moment I stepped foot there, I felt drawn to live in Europe. But as anyone who’s simply visited Italy, France or any other EU nations, the cost of being there is decidedly wallet-unfriendly, and the TEFL teacher salaries aren’t much help. In fact, I’d probably be dipping into my savings just to keep my head barely above water! No bueno.

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Inspiration, Living Abroad

Hello and Welcome to Fleur de Libre!

Howdy! Thanks so much for checking out my site, and welcome! If you don’t know me from my other blogs (The Dallas Diva and Swine & Swill), then I’m happy to tell you a bit about me and why I started this blog.

Welcome to Fleur de Libre | TheDallasDiva.com

I’ve actually been a blogger since 2010, and it’s been a huuge passion I’ve been tremendously devoted to, although not my full-time (read: paid) gig. I’m a writer and editor by trade, having written for The Detroit News, The Dallas Morning News, Thrillist and Zagat. As you may’ve guessed from those last two, my chosen writing niches are travel and food — I’m obsessed!

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