Grndson is working for National Democratic Institute For International
Affairs; HQ in DC; board chair is Madelyn Albright.
I've been concerned about grandson going to Albania since he first mentioned
it coupla months ago. 'He called me last Saturday evening to say that he
had arrived. 'Recounted a "scare" he had immediately after clearing
customs. A man dressed in dark grey suit met him immediately outside the
airport exit and asked if he wanted a taxi. He at first refused until the
man asked if he were going to Hotel Europa. He then thought, "well, he
already knows where I'm going." Grnson enlisted aid of young
English-speaking woman shopkeeper to translate and help him negotate fare.
(Grnson is fluent in French, Arabic, English, of course, passable in
Russian, some Mandarin, but not Albanian/Italian) They got into a silver
Mercedes taxi; another man dressed like the first one got into front
passenger seat. Soon after starting the trip to the hotel, driver opened
glove compartment, pulled out police badge and showed it to grndson while
pointing to himself and the other man, each displaying big smiles. Grndson
understood that they were policemen, but one of 'em also drives taxi "on
side."
I asked Grndson to check in/register with American embassy/consulate - "Just
in case you might need some 'help,' at least let somebody know you're
there."
Grandson called again early this afternoon. He'd been to his workplace, met
his boss (a Bosnian lady) and some of the other people there. They took
'imp to lunch and helped him find an apartment with which he was very
pleased regarding location, size, furnishings, amenities, etc. 'Seems to be
near a university; he was pleased to see others his age nearby.
Wilton
----- Original Message -----
From: "Dan Penoff" <d...@penoff.com>
To: "Mercedes Discussion List" <mercedes@okiebenz.com>
Sent: Monday, June 02, 2014 10:13 PM
Subject: Re: [MBZ] MB's in Albania
Albania was probably the country who came the closest to pure socialism in
its day.
My grandfather would get letter from my cousins which inferred that we
were all rich beyond belief and the streets were paved with gold, so to
speak. The things they told the people about the West were really
outrageous, at least from what we could see.
One of the last letters I saw from them before the government collapsed
and the Hoxhaist state was more or less dismantled had them asking for
several thousand dollars so they could buy motorbikes for everyone in the
family to help them to be able to get around.
This was in the early 1980s, I recall.
In 1966 or 67, I traveled with my Dad to NYC to visit the Albanian
representatives at the UN. We had gotten word that one of the relatives
was very sick, and my grandfather wanted my Dad to travel to Albania to
deliver medicine to the family under the auspices of a Red Cross visit. I
recall the men from the consul or whatever the diplomatic entity they were
being very skeptical and not so nice. They would, however, grant my
father and any other member of our family a visa to enter the country if
we liked.
The next day we took the train down to D.C. where we met with some people
from the State Department. I remember was the State Department person
telling us that we were welcome to go to Albania if they issued a visa,
but once we crossed their border we would, for all intents and purposes,
vanish off the face of the Earth, as the US had no diplomatic relations
with the country.
Needless to say, my Dad said "The hell with it!" and more or less told my
grandfather they wouldn't let us in the country.
Dan
On Jun 2, 2014, at 5:37 PM, Randy Bennell wrote:
Just like in Washington DC (and probably Ottawa too).
On 02/06/2014 4:12 PM, Andrew Strasfogel wrote:
Commie socialist capitalists?
On Mon, Jun 2, 2014 at 3:58 PM, Rich Thomas <
richthomas79td...@constructivity.net> wrote:
I understand a lot of them are stolen elsewhere and taken there and
sold,
a fairly lawless place. The commie socialists embraced capitalism very
quickly.
--R
On 6/2/14 3:34 PM, Dan Penoff wrote:
That's pretty interesting, as before they opened the borders to the
outside world they were lucky to have horse drawn carts.
My Dad's family is from Albania and I supposedly still have relatives
there...
Dan
Sent from my iPad
On Jun 2, 2014, at 3:30 PM, "WILTON" <wilt...@nc.rr.com> wrote:
@ 1 grandson (grad student in Paris) is on a summer job in Tirana,
Albania; 'says most of the cars there seem to be MB's; lotsa 124's
and
newer; I'll ask about 123's.
Wilton
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