Don't Mess With The Authorities.

So as most may know... we just got back from a great trip back east. It was fun, it was lovely, it was adventurous, it was memorable! To bad most of my photographs are on a c.d. being sent in the mail. If I had them, I would post all the happy pictures up. But since I won't have those pictures until Monday I'll write about the incident with the Canadian customs official and his poor attitude towards me. Oh and I'll never forget that mean chick at JFK airport that made me cry. The memories on that last day will be forever with me... good thing I'll be able to really laugh about them in 20 years!

Picture this (because I have no pictures): Saturday morning 8:00 a.m. we are getting off the cruise ship to go through Canadian customs and board a bus to the airport. Rebekah had collected a bag of acorns while we were in New Jersey a week earlier and I had kept the acorns in a suitcase on the ship the entire time. But it didn't matter to the customs official; I technically had crossed the border into Canada with nuts from the U.S. that may contain soil on them. We all know that deep down I had criminal intentions and the Canadian customs official knew that too!!!
So while I'm standing in a huge warehouse- type building feeling a bit stressed for time and knowing the 50+ members of our tour group had gone ahead of us, the Canadian customs guy stares at the acorns.... he looks at me...... he looks at the acorns again.... he glares back at me. He asks me if we are carrying more than $800 in souvenirs with us. I say no. Canadian official starts making checks on a paper. I turn to Jeremy and quietly joke with him about how I WISH we were rich and carrying $800 with us. Customs Man does not like my lighthearted attitude. Promptly stopping his check marking.... he looks up at me and with all seriousness and a no-joke voice informs me that he asks every single person that question. I get a shocked look on my face and muster out "oh"....... "ok". Customs Man ready to protect the world from my criminal acorns and not happy with my attitude then escorts us to the back room where Mr. Searcher man greets us.

Mr. Searcher man lectures me on how, if I would have traveled across the ocean to Europe I could have caused... well... he couldn't come up with the words... he just told me it would have been horrible as he looked upwards trying to imagine the world trauma I might have created. But I didn't travel to Europe, I traveled to Canada. BUT, if I WOULD have traveled to Europe we all know that I WOULD have been carrying more than $800 in souvenirs with me for sure.

15 minutes with Mr. Searcher and he made the decision to confiscate our acorns. Goodbye New Jersey acorns and goodbye Canadian customs people that don't like me........ off to JFK airport to anger more people!


JFK is looking a little more promising. What more can they take from me? At the last minute we decide to carry on a bag instead of check it... it'll save us 15 bucks, right? I go through security to have a girl younger than me but with a heck of an attitude (we were in New York, need I say more?) take my bag for searching. Sweet.... more searching I can hardly contain my excitement. I help the kids through the metal detector, get shoes back on, collect belongings... all this time wondering what in the world this mean security chick is standing and glaring at me for. I send her a questionable look; she says she is waiting for someone. It is really loud and busy and from across a certain distance I think that she is waiting for another co-worker or a supervisor. I wait. She waits. I wait. I glance at her a minute later. She rips me up one side and down the other. It goes something like this in a loud voice and black chick bad attitude: "Are you going to get over here or not?"... I cautiously approach the scary monster and reply "I didn't know you were waiting for me, I'm sorry"...... scary monster almost yelling at me replies "I have told you THREE times to get over here".... I realize that scary monster needs to work on her communication and people skills. I, not having much sleep and not in the mood to be treated like a two year old.... get mean right back. I tried to calm the scary monster at first by giving her a fake and non-sincere apology. When that didn't work I snapped at her and told her that she had not been clear enough. That aggravated the scary monster who then literally threw into the air and out on the table, many of my personal belongings and shoved a bag of (not cheap) hair products in my face. Should I repeat, in my face. Once again my stuff was confiscated, never to be seen again. After she ordered me to clean up the mess she had made I did so and left. I could have asked for her supervisor but I was half way in shock at how I'd been treated. All I could do was turn around to Jeremy and say bad things about her that I never should have said. (Sleep deprivation will make you do that) Then I sat down and had myself a good cry before carrying on to explore the rest of the exciting world of the New York JFK airport.

The trip was great and I look forward to telling all about the things we saw... but I can't sugar coat the Saturday that we came home, it was how it was. Home never looked so good that night, even IF the fridge had broken and my food was going bad! But that is another story, for another day. I've complained enough for one post! Can't wait to post the happy pictures!!!