Simon loves to learn about culture, history and languages. He started learning Spanish at home with his mother and grandmother who immigrated from Nicaragua. His father is half Mexican and half Polish. Simón holds a Master’s of Education from the University of Oregon with an endorsement in teaching Spanish. He has also studied at a bilingual school in Eugene. He studied at La Universidad de Oviedo in Spain for a semester and lived with a host family and graduated with a degree in Spanish and a degree in Communications from the University of Portland. He studied Spanish at Cemanahuac Spanish School in Cuernavaca, Mexico and lived with a host family for two months. He lived and taught English in Managua, Nicaragua for a year. Overall, he has taught Spanish for about 18 years with students from kindergarten through high school. For a year and half, he taught a Spanish medical terminology and cultural competency course for medical personnel in Eugene through Centro Latinoamericano as part of a federal pilot grant. He has taught adults at Penn State University as a member of their University Health Services. Aside from living and traveling in Spain, Mexico and Nicaragua, he has traveled in Guatemala, Costa Rica, Panama and non-Spanish speaking countries. In addition to traveling, Simon enjoys playing soccer, painting, writing fiction and playing with his two-year-old daughter. He has learned a bit of Turkish and Portuguese and loves to learn about languages.