leahjs

About Leah Simon

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So far Leah Simon has created 2 entries.

Cultural Immersion through Dance (VIDEO)

by Leah Simon

A Latino rhythm speaks as it bounces in the air, layered with the high-pitched voice of the mandarina, overtop of the raspyness of the guayo and the soft tone of the accordion. Before the smooth-flowing words of Raulin Rodriguez glide through the air, my mind processes the genre of music (there are a few types: bembo, merengue, bachata, regeton to name a few) and my body reacts, legs bouncing and hips swaying right in with the beat. “Esta Noche” is playing, a famous classic bachata song, and the romantic, serenading lyrics speak to me as my body converses back. The movement of my body beckons a male counterpart and within moments, there is one in front of me following my steps and providing me with a conversation partner. It is only through my experience of immersion here in this unique language that I now have this familiarity […]

By |December 16th, 2015|Gappers in the Field|
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First Taste

by Leah Simon

Have you ever accidentally hit the “Enter” key mid-sentence chat, and your message sends before you are ready? Well, this seemingly harmless situation played out in the earliest hours of Friday, March the 17th, before the start of my orientation.

A wave of panic rushed over me as I saw the letters in the Facebook message text bar vanish and then reappear in the chat box. I frantically continued typing, hoping to complete my sentence and apologize before my recipient read the embarrassing half-thought-out quarter sentence I had left her. Within a second, the Facebook chat notification signal sounded, making my heart skip.

“Hey!” appeared on my screen. The quickness of the response especially for the time of day and the fact that they had actually responded to my careless error pleasantly surprised me. I quickly apologized, as planned, hoping she wasn’t secretly mad at me for disturbing her […]

By |March 29th, 2015|GGYF Orientation|
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