rommy ghaly

I've known Ken a long time. We went to high school together and both ended up in San Francisco at the same time. I saw him perform a couple of times in SF and was always amazed by the breadth and depth of his musical talent. I have an immense amount for local musicians who pursue their artistic passions and do so with a persistent energy.

Alas, he amazes me again. He's kicked off a grassroots effort wherein he's raising money for a music video. It's being done in collaboration with a talented animator in the Netherlands. Needless to say, this has totally caught my attention (thanks to Facebook). Along with Emiel Stevenhagen, they are pouring their blood, sweat, and tears into making a music video that, from the looks of it, is going to be awesome.

They have two more weeks to raise just $756. It appears they may just make it but I want to be sure they hit, or better yet, exceed their goal of $3000. If you're not convinced of how awesome it's gonna be, check out the brief video (click on the image below):

And most importantly, here's a link to the song in the video, Pieces, off his album The End of Suffering:

http://kenflagg.tumblr.com/post/88607081/this-is-the-first-track-off-of-my-new-album

Be sure to donate, not because you know Ken but because it is so important that we continue to support local, talented artists.

Since I came back from India, I had my heart set on discovering more of Asia. To be more precise, I had my heart set on going to Viet Nam. I wanted to fully experience a country with a rich 20th century history, a country that overcame incredible odds to rebuild itself, and continues to do so.

Then I saw the trailer for this film:

Upon seeing this, I came to a few realizations:

• I haven't been to Egypt since 1991.
• I was too young to fully grasp the shattered remnants of one of the greatest civilizations on Earth.
• I needed to reconnect with a missing part of my personal past. One that I inherited. One that I didn't quite understand.
• It would likely be one of my last chances to go to Egypt.

Although I thought the film to be rather mediocre, the beauty of Cairo as featured throughout the film; the chaotic, beautiful mess it has become, is what I want to see.

I want to travel the length of the country, top to bottom. I want to trek for several days and nights through the Sahara. I want to see Aswan and Luxor. I want to indulge myself in Alexandria. I want to go to Israel. I want to meet my family again. I want to eat street food, get sick, and then eat more street food. I want to buy firecrackers and set them off. I want to smoke the 'shisha' and sit for hours in the men's only coffee shops. I want to fully understand it all.

Most importantly, I want to understand why the hotbed of civilization since the beginning of civilized man, continues to be the hotbed of civilization until today. I want to love it. I want to hate it. But I want to understand it.

I leave December 17th. I return January 9th. And I can't wait.

I finally got internet on Thursday. Six weeks of poaching spotty internet from the cafe downstairs was getting tiresome. And now that I finally have it, I hardly know where to begin. The summer came and is now leaving us and it was such a whirlwind of awesome, that no amount of writing would do it justice. Cafe culture, the World Cup, bars, beer, food, family, friends, sightseeing, walking, work, heat, rain, and dog poop (there is a lot of it here). That's quick a summary of the summer.

Discovering Berlin

I really look forward to the weekends to allow me to appreciate all that Berlin has to offer, and there is a lot. It's everything I missed about San Francisco (the liberal mindset, the artists, the hipsters) coupled with everything I appreciated about New York (the edge, the drive). The artists, designers, and musicians struggle to make ends meet, which makes their art awesome. The cost of living is so low and the availability of space so high (but quickly depleting) it attracts a culture of middle-class Europeans looking to pursue a passion, or to raise a family, or to simply. Middle-class in the capitalist West? Something that disappeared among so many big cities in the booming 90s? Berlin haz it. But it's disappearing as it did in decadent New York, San Francisco, Stockholm, Paris, and London years ago. So the only thing we can do is enjoy the time we have left as an emerging city.

Discovering this city is fun. Every neighborhood is its own vibe, it's own personality. Mitte is the gentrified old East and new city centre since the reunification. Prenzlauerberg is the former East Berlin neighborhood where the '89 revolution was fueled from, now a posh neighborhood for young families (with the highest number of babies per capita in all of Europe) and professionals. Kreuzberg is the neighborhood in the old West which was settled by Turkish immigrants, then became an affordable place for artists, and now is becoming totally hip and the place to be. Schöneberg in the old West also a Turkish neighborhood, has become a beautiful neighborhood with cafes and galleries. Friedrichshain is the place to live for students or those fresh out of university, and thus home to a thriving bar scene. Neukölln is the rough neighborhood that is becoming the Kreuzberg as Kreuzberg becomes the new Prenzlauerberg.

Weekend Routine

But I've been here for almost three months now. And as a result, I begin to find my routine.

Going out on Fridays will typically mean (in my old age) that I'm likely to stay in on Saturday (which in Berlin is a sin of the worst kind). First of all, when you go out I'm getting the impression that it's unacceptable to go home before the sun comes up. Well if you know me, then you know this just isn't possible. In Stockholm, the bars closed at 2am and I was still the first one to go home. Here the bars and clubs are open all night, and I can say with some amount of confidence that despite what time I've managed to stay out until, I've always been the guy to go home first almost every time we've gone out. Friday night/Saturday morning, I went home at 3am, stopped off for some currywurst and was in bed at 3.30. Apparently this makes me lame. I can take it.

Saturday morning is a more baked routine. And if Friday night is too big, it'll screw up my balance for the rest of the weekend. I wake up on Saturday and hit a cafe in my neighborhood. After this, I go home, grab my backpack and hit the U-Bahn and head to Schöneberg for the weekly market. The Winterfeldtmarkt is the best market in Berlin where local farmers and artisans come to sell their stuffs. Fresh local vegetables, freshly churned butter and cheese, and free-range eggs are among some of the things you find, not to mention crafts. It's pretty refreshing to find this here. Last time I had an appreciation for a good market was the Marin Farmer's Market in the Bay Area. And Winterfeldtmarkt does a pretty good job of filling that void (though admittedly it still hardly compares to the hundreds of French markets on any given Saturday in Provence). What's nice about Winterfeldtmarkt is that it's far enough out of the way, that it's not overexploited.

Following the shenanigans at the Winterfeldtmarkt, I bounce to a local cafe to grab a coffee. Then to another place to grab lunch. Usually it's a falafel place, of which there are no shortages in Schöneberg. My favorite in this neighborhood is Hayat. Tried Habibi yesterday and was disappointed. I'm quickly becoming a falafel/döner connoisseur (snob) here.

But the highlight of my Saturday is waiting in line. It might sound lame. But waiting in line for meat at Öz-Gida, Berlin's awesome Turkish supermarket is pretty entertaining. People appear to travel from all over the city to come here. It's always packed with people wanting to buy stuff they can't buy anywhere else. But I'm not talking the Turkish groceries part of the store. I'm talking the meat counter part of the store. I can't find evidence that meat is local, but it is far too fresh to assume otherwise, and it is all raised and slaughtered according to halal, which would imply a more humane treatment of animals and a humane method of slaughter. The assortment of meat is amazing regardless and the freshness and quality is some of the best I've had, so using my natural intuition I will assume that this meat is locally-raised and slaughtered. But as soon as I learn German (or Turkish, which ever comes first), I will be sure to hammer these guys with questions.

Then Saturday night is spent admiring my loot and cooking my dinner with it.

Sunday, everything is closed. Everything. I don't even know what I did before I had internet at home.

This city has so much that is photoworthy, it's almost overwhelming. I've also started to learn a bit of Adobe Lightroom, so here are some photos:

Just finishing up my first six weeks in Berlin and I've hardly had time to breathe, not to mention update this blog.

Therefore I'll let my photos speak for me. Check out my photo documentation of my first six weeks here. They happily coincided with the first six weeks of summer here.

http://rommy.smugmug.com/Germany/Berlin-First-Six-Weeks

In a nutshell:

• The World Cup was the highlight of the summer despite the fact it didn't end up favoring the superior German team in the end.
• I found the perfect apartment in the perfect neighborhood in Berlin. It was incredible luck that I found this place. I moved in July 1st and was sleeping on a mattress I borrowed from a friend for the first 12 days.
• On July 12th (this past Monday) my stuff arrived from storage in Berlin. So I may actually start living like a civilized human being for the first time since the end of May.
• The arrival of my stuff this week coincided with the processing of my work visa from the the German government on Tuesday. I am an officially a taxpaying German.
• I don't have DSL at home yet, so the only way I'm updating anything is through my phone or through Twitter at work. Blogging will be infrequent until I can get DSL at home which is due to arrive in a couple of weeks.

So for the first time since I moved here, I have time to reflect on the craziest summer since I moved to Stockholm two years ago.

*reflecting*

Berlin continues to amaze me each day more and more. You know it's a pretty incredible place to live when the other folks from all over the world, many who have been living here for more than 5 years, talk about this city like they're as new as I am - with an excitement and enthusiasm I've never heard before from people who could arguably be considered established citizens of the city.

I've learned patience. This was the toughest move I ever had to do and it continued to test my nerves just until this week. Things take time here and in a country of 80+ million I need to get used to this. I was pretty spoiled in Stockholm. One of the benefits of my time in Sweden was the plethora of "naturalization" services that was provided to me. Unfortunately, I relied on them so heavily, that I forgot how to do things for myself. For the first time I can enjoy myself AND relax simultaneously. It was a serious learning experience, and a fat dose of reality.

To top it all off, it has been hot as hell here. But I think everyone was okay with that after the brutal winter that buried Europe. Last weekend was the hottest day ever recorded in Berlin at 38 degrees Celsius (100 degrees Fahrenheit). As crippling as it was in terms of actually doing anything, I think people are savoring the heat just a little more this year, even if it means just finding a cool corner of the apartment to sit in and do nothing. On the days that haven't been spent avoiding the heat, I've been exploring like crazy as you can see in the photos above.

So that's pretty much it. Nothing profound. Just a whole lot of excitement. A whole lot of fun. A whole lot of summer.

Hope your summer's been swell.

I've been hearing from a lot of people that I couldn't have picked a better time to move to Berlin. They're right.

I haven't gone out yet. By this I mean I haven't gone out barhopping on a Friday or Saturday night. My time thus far has been split between fighting off my allergies throughout the days, watching World Cup matches in the afternoons, and apartment hunting in the evenings (between the 4:00 and 8:30 matches) so I can make it to a bar in time for the 8:30 match to start.

World Cup fever has taken this over Berlin (and the rest of Germany). What makes the excitement (read: hysteria) even more compelling is that Berlin is an extremely international city made up of Turks, English, Americans, French, Italians, Australians, Kiwis, Serbs and pretty much other nationality that happens to be represented in the global event. So even though the Germany matches command the biggest crowds at bars, there is no bar or cafe that doesn't have a crowd gathered around a television on a street corner or on a sidewalk or in a biergarten during any match. As a Berliner, you try to watch every match you possibly can because it's fun (and because it's hard not to).

My social life is non-existent. And I don't really have any good friends yet. Outside of the couple buddies I have at work with whom I've seen a few matches, my acquaintances have been made up of people I meet at cafes watching World Cup matches.

But it doesn't matter, because the energy you get from seeing from 20 people gathered around a 40 inch flat-screen television on a street corner, cheering and screaming at the screen in German is enough to get you smiling and joining in. As soon as the fans ask you where you're from, the first thing they do is start telling you what they think of your team's performance in the Cup. In my case, they lament the horrible call that was made against the US in the Slovenia match.

Last Friday, Germany had a 1:30 match against Serbia. In most American companies it would be business as usual. In Germany, the worker's union would file a complaint against a company's leadership for "undue psychological stress" resulting from not allowing its employees to watch a match. In our case, our bosses ordered pizzas, set up two flat panel TVs with surround sound, and we all took two hours off to watch the match. The only psychological stress we endured was from the unfavorable result in large part due to horrible officiating. At 3:30, we were back to work, trying not to think about the dozens of different ways this could end for Germany.

I've been trying to get my Swedish friends down here before the World Cup ends. I'm pretty sure there's no better way to see Berlin. The excitement is contagious and everything I could've hoped for.

I arrived in Berlin a week ago with apprehensions. The move from Stockholm has been and continues to be difficult. Government bureaucracies, adversity in apartment-hunting, an attachment to a city I loved and left, and the anxiety of starting over again - a new job, new friends, new language, new lifestyle. In short, new life. There was never a doubt in my mind that I made the right decision, but this didn't make the move any easier. Nevertheless it was a decision that I made and I was going to make it work.

The first few days I was here, the weather was unseasonably cold and rainy. I spent much of the first few days bending over backwards gathering the necessary paperwork to secure the visa. I started work on Monday and spent much of the week learning about how this exciting and highly-anticipated German startup operated. I moved into my temporary flat on Tuesday. The rest of the week was spent meeting new people through work, learning the job, and getting settled in. The weather went from horrible to amazing and I began to get the feeling that things were finally starting to get on track.

Then yesterday, it happened. I fell in love with Berlin.

All my apprehensions, fears, doubts, and anxieties fell away as I walked through the city. It blew my mind. The character of this city is in its desire to achieve greatness. Berlin is perhaps one of the few cities in the Western World that, mostly due to the circumstances of the past 70 years, has not quite yet achieved it. But its focused intent on doing so has made it great in and of itself. And that's the most admirable thing about this place.

Take New York's edginess, slam it into San Francisco's culture, and give it the delicate touch of Paris' grandeur and you've got Berlin. Though unlike those cities, it lacks pretension and doesn't try to live up to some stereotypical ideal that society has bestowed upon it. It's not THE City or the Liberal City or the City of Love. It's Berlin. It doesn't try to be, it just is. And just being is what Berlin is good at. It's why everyone who lives here loves it so much.

Yesterday, I left my flat in Prenzlauerberg, a more or less gentrified neighborhood in the former East inhabited by lots of young families and professionals. I walked across the river to the southwestern part of Mitte, also of the former East and the new center of Berlin following the reunification. I saw a cute flea market along the river, beautiful old buildings, and cafes...

Cafes.

The cafe culture here is outstanding. Sprawling outdoor patios on large sidewalks are only the perfect complement to magnificent indoor venues in old refurbished buildings. High ceilings, art, and large plush couches make for an energetic social scene I haven't seen anywhere before. They're like museums! Artists, writers, designers, and musicians gather in these places and chat over beers or coffee, discussing and philosophizing. Peoplewatching is fantastic here.

Yesterday afternoon, I met a friend at Friedrichshain Volkspark, a huge park in an up-and-coming neighborhood in the former East. The weather was in the high 20s and the park was packed with people enjoying the first sunny days of the summer. To put it mildly, this place made Dolores Park in San Francisco look like a family gathering. It was one massive, sprawling party. It took me almost two hours to find him and his friends, sadly due to the fact that the sim-card activation on my new phone plan was an epic fail (thanks o2). For five hours we sat out in the park and grilled illegally along with the thousands of others who were there. We drank beers, chatted, and enjoyed being Berliners until the it started to get dark around 10ish.

Chatted.

I've been taken aback by the very open friendliness of the Berliners, particularly to strangers. Having come from Stockholm which is notably more reserved, Berliners are incredibly outgoing conversationalists. They love their city and love to welcome strangers to it. You can see that light in their eyes when they talk about Berlin, how it's growing and changing and the role they see themselves playing in it. Most Berliners come from eclectic backgrounds and are not from Berlin, but are immensely proud to call Berlin their home and they want everyone to feel at home here. I felt so welcomed by them, that I couldn't help but smile my entire way home. I am a Berliner.

Perhaps what I find most amazing about this city is that it managed to rise from the ashes of the worst event in human history, to move on to recreate and redefine itself as Europe's new capital, and most of this in just the past 20 years. Every morning I wake up and step out the door, I can't help but think about what this place was like for most of the 20th century - a struggling, dark city where ideologies were born, where they clashed, and where they now converge. It is a city that, despite the struggle it endured, managed to rise above it all quickly to redefine itself, not forgetting its past but cautiously remembering it, in order to move on, and to strive to achieve greatness.

I will love it here.

When I lived in San Francisco, I began to compile a secret music playlist. It's a secret family recipe of sorts. Though it has nothing to do with my family. But it is a recipe...

...for romance. (I just came up with that)

The PR mix gained quite a mysterious reputation among my friends in San Francisco. I think I talked about it one night while having some drinks with a group of female friends. In typical "Rommy" fashion I spoke about the enchanting effects it had on women after a few drinks and a happy frolic back to my place.

The girls laughed in my face. Also typical.

But just the mention of this magical "hookup" mix started to pique some interest. Because expectedly some of them started to wonder in their own head what kind of music could possibly be on this mix. As I got further into their heads, I could tell that they started to wonder what music would get THEM in the mood. So they casually started to ask questions.

And then I was the one laughing. There was no way I would be willing to divulge the secret. It had been simply too important and far too effective for me to just give away. Particularly to girls I was HITTING on. Furthermore if I let the cat out of the bag, it was a death sentence for my sex life in San Francisco. Every dude running around with the PR mix is NOT what I needed for competition.

The mix didn't just come to me. It went through MANY iterations taking years to perfect. It's eclectic. I've listened to it over a thousand times. I've changed the order, added some songs, removed some others. And I continued to try it on women, gauging their reactions, gauging my own. If I skipped a song, I took a mental note to drop it. If I heard a great song while driving, I took a mental note to add it.

I literally got it to the point where just about every song got them smiling or relaxed or laughing or...other stuff. I knew I nailed it, when at the beginning of each song I would hear "I love this song!" or "This mix is amazing." I gave it to a couple female friends who I hadn't been romantically involved with. One of them brought it to work. She claimed she had to shut the door to her office when she listened to it. When she told her friends how awesome the mix was, they all wanted copies of it.

I'd created a monster. And it was mine. And it worked. I could just about pinpoint their mental and physical moods at precise moments throughout the mix. And I won't say that all the women were predictable. It worked better on some women than it did on others, but the success rate was almost 100%. I wish I was kidding.

So these female friends of mine had a good laugh about it. Mostly them laughing at me for being so silly and chauvinistic/douchebaggy. And me laughing at them because despite this mockery/disgust they still wanted to know what was on it.

I don't think it's perfect yet. But it hasn't changed for a while, only because I don't want to offset the balance. And for every guy, the PR mix might be different. Everything from their type of woman to their location (the PR Mix has had only moderate success in Europe) to their taste in music. My PR mix has some personal flavor with some personal meaning behind some of the songs.

Some tips for a PR mix include:

• The order is critical to its success. Shuffle is NOT your friend.
• You'll want to start with songs that serve as background music so that you can speak over it. But if you're both drunk you'd want them to be able to smile and recognize the song and feel comfortable/relaxed.
• Some electronic lounge early on is a good relaxant. Especially with some wine.
• Mix it up. Be eclectic. Show your range. Lounge, pop, 80s, crooners, jazz, bossa nova.
• It's key to throw in some songs that everyone recognizes. It keeps a conversation going when she can smile and appreciate your choice in music.
• Don't be too obvious. Don't throw Barry White on it unless you want her to laugh at you. Romance can be fun, but it shouldn't be obvious.
• Put your best songs in the middle. It's the heart of the mix. The songs below in green are the ones that cause serious emotional conflict and physical desire. They melt even the coldest hearts.
• Put your most relaxing songs at the end.

I swore I wouldn't divulge the mix, but I'm getting old, and I need to pass on the secret. Plus, it gives everyone a little something to talk about, something to laugh at, and something to disagree with (as is the case with every list).

So without further ado, I present to you Rommy's long-awaited PR Mix:

1. New York State of Mind - Billy Joel
2. I Left My Heart in San Francisco - Tony Bennett
3. Happy Together - The Turtles
4. Ain't No Sunshine - Bill Withers
5. The Most Beautiful Girl in the Room - Flight of the Conchords
6. She's Always a Woman to Me - Billy Joel
7. (Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay - Otis Redding
8. A Whiter Shade of Pale - Procol Harum (not on Spotify)
9. Hide and Seek - Imogen Heap
10. Porcelain - Moby
11. Jesus to a Child - George Michael
12. Nude - Radiohead
13. Stand by Me - Ben E. King
14. Slow Motion Bossa Nova - Celso Fonseca
15. Trouble - Coldplay
16. Falling in Love At a Coffee Shop - Landon Pigg (not on Spotify)
17. One More Try - George Michael
18. Nightswimming - R.E.M.
19. In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning - Frank Sinatra
20. Hideaway - Karen O and the Kids

If you want to subscribe to it, I have the playlist up on Spotify (PR Mix Spotify), but unfortunately some of the songs are unavailable due to licensing issues. It's only at 90% over there, but it's still close.

Oh and I'll spare you the details of what PR stands for (it's not as bad as you think).

Mike Matas, a fellow Rickshaw Runner we met early on in the trip, put together this video that is simply amazing. We are indeed featured throughout, though we were only with Mike and Corwin for a short period in the beginning. Thanks Mike!

(If the embed below is laggy, click here. It *might* be better.)

Journey Across India from Mike Matas on Vimeo.