Dima, Anna and The Fighting Dutch: Training Egyptian MMA/Boxing
Met up with another friend, Dima from Russia, and his Ukrainian and Russian friends. I met Dima in a hostel in Montenegro and this was filmed my last days in Hurghada, Egypt. Sergy, a paisano of theirs, has been traveling since July 2021 with little to NO money!!
Serendipity:
Aside from Just Do It, [used long before it was trademarked and nothing to do with overpriced sweat-shopped kicks] and Balance and the most recent, Do Epic Shit – my life has been a series of random great luck putting the most amazing people in my path that I’ve been blessed enough to encounter and share even for half an hour.
There are tons of these and only a few of the very special end up remaining in our lives – though their experiences and those brief moments alter our outlooks, understandings and perspective forever.
I often fall in with the BEST people wherever I land. Not always, but COMMON! – from day one in Paris partying with Alejandro, for his 4th of July Birthday Weekend Blowout, and re-connecting with Jean-Marin, whom volunteered with brother Gary and I, in Nicaragua Spring 2018, to the randomest run-in with Mahija Sejdaj in Blankensee, Hamburg, Germany. I hadn’t seen her since Nov. 2011, when we met in Christchurch, New Zealand! Never got contact outside of FB and had lost contact several years ago…
Then there’s Ilia Ryvkin, the Ukranian Reporter, Activist Extraordinaire – my AirBnB host in Berlin…Dmitri [Dima] in Montenegro whom may be hiring me to proof-read his web pages, though I prefer getting BLOTTO on cookies [the same Albanian Treats we had in Athens], but work is work. And my BLASS needs to STOP THE BLEEDING – Dima, Anna and Sergy bailed me out a month later, in Hurghada, Egypt when a money transfer was delayed due to MLK Day in the US and I was fortunate enough to have them and their hospitality those last four days in Egypt.
One such random meet:
Ilia Ryvkin
– owner of AirBnB here in Berlin, not far from “African Town” whatever that means? I suppose it’s akin to “Harlem” or “Watts”?
Still, bought some “jerk”-like chicken from gentleman from Ghana, around the corner from Ilia’s flat. He’s been here 40 years. Later, bought some couscous filled eggplant from the Armenian or Turkish bakery. I was able to send off with “Bis spatter” which means, “See you later!”
I’ve also just learned and tried using “I’m Sorry”, since its 4-word saying is easier than the 9-lettered 4-syllabled “Excuse Me”!! – OK, say it with me: Entschuldigung = IN – Shrood – De- gong. There, now your German!!
Anyway, Mr. Ryvkin is a Writer, Reporter and Playwright, from the Ukraine, and either he wasn’t too impressed when I mentioned loving Chekhov’s “The Cherry Tree” nor Dostoevsky’s “Crime and Punishment“, or if he’d tired of talking about those. Still, Ilia, my MAN, but he did have much to say:
“I write Fiction – though I’ve covered some heavy political and social movements, I put some of them in my stories, but I also add Magical Realism.”
He also mentioned writing Non-Fiction but quickly changed that answer saying his journalism career covered the Non-Fiction, and any “real” elements in his stories today, are far removed due to elements of “the fantastic” or the Magical Realism.
I think he writes BOTH. He just had to be sure I wasn’t an Agent From the Black Forest first.
He’s won the National Prize for his Social Work; Presentation and Research on Drugs and AIDS in 2019!!! I believe he said he did that for four years.
Damn, man!!! You’re KILLIN’ it!
Do Epic Shit 