Thanks for the rant! I have stood on the "electricity-free" Albanian coast near Sarande and looked at the lights in Corfu and thought "That sure looks like a good time!" Now I know I didn't miss that much. And for all of Albania's faults, there is probably no place in Europe more pro-American. As for the electricity, they're still working on it! Excerpt below:
Albania to look after its tourists by providing uninterrupted electricity supply Tirana, 12 June: Albanian Power Corporation (KESH) said on Thursday [12 June] that all tourist areas will be supplied with energy during the whole summer season. According to the above mentioned sources, Shkoder area up to Saranda has experienced important investments which guarantee supply with energy for the tourists who rest in the Albanian coast. KESH confirmed that it has invested over 152m lek for the electric networks along the tourists spots in our coast. Along with investment with its funds, at the tourist spots KESH keeps on rehabilitating electric networks, mainly distribution systems and that thanks to foreign donors amounting to over 9m euro. Source: ATA news agency, Tirana, in English 1512 gmt 12 Jun 03
I grew up in Hackensack, New Jersey, a city with a noticeable Albanian community. When I was a little girl in the 1960's, some of the Albanians told me and my parents dramatic stories of their escape. The whole time I was in Catholic grammar school, I had a huge crush on a little boy who came from an Albanian family with a complicated surname. He was actually born in Italy after his parents fled the country en route to America. He was having learning difficulties, so he was always getting into trouble in school and the nuns wanted to expel him. I'd go home and cry my heart out to my mother, and she in turn would beg the principal to not to kick him out. I ran into him years later, and he was quite handsome in a Stallone-ish sort of way ("Yo, how's your mother?"). Not surprisingly, I recently discovered online that this guy's older brother is now an actor who gets typecast in police movies, and his acting credentials do mention that he speaks Albanian.
My daughter is now the same age that I was when I entered Catholic school. She often asks me to tell her bedtime stories about my childhood. The tale of the little Albanian boy is her favorite, and when I found a school photo of the two of us dressed up in religious costumes together, it really thrilled her.
Again, by contrast, my Greek-American friends were very different. Their families owned diners in New Jersey, and their parents kept sending them overseas every year hoping they'd come home with Greek spouses. No dramatic escape stories to hook my childish imagination, that's for sure.
Oh, I forgot to mention in my earlier rant -- I'm pretty sure that my vacation-from-hell took place in May 1985, just as Papandreou (sp?) was running for re-election. I never understood what was up with that guy anyway. I'd read that Papandreou had been educated in the United States and even had an American wife -- so what was behind all that anti-American sentiment? Whatever the cause, it certainly ruined my trip. Sigh...