O Canada
Thursday I flew from CA to Ottawa, Canada for the Canadian Improv Games (CIG) National Tournament. This is my second year teaching there, and I know a good deal of the kids since I also taught at the improv camp (Best Camp Ever!) run by CIG.
I got hassled coming through customs. Last year's trip was so uneventful, and I've travelled to canada so much in the last few years that I was caught off guard. I always bring my passport, get my story clear and have all my details, etc. But they really grilled me this time. I gave them the dates of the tournament and the immigration guy really scrutinized it. He looked up the venue website and they had a different end date than I gave him. He actually said "It says April 14. I have a hard time believing you when there is a discrepancy." I had to direct him to another website to verify that I had the dates right.
Finally, he passed me along to customs. Customs Canadienne seems to think I fit the profile of "porn smuggler" because I had to hand over my laptop and let them search it. The agent spent about 10 minutes searching my harddrive. They also made me hand over the digital camera and remove the memory card (which I've actually never done, it's been in there since I bought the camera).
It didn't occur to me until later that I don't even know what my rights are in that situation. The border guards (be they US or Canadian) just have all the power. You just have to bend over, I guess.
I got hassled coming through customs. Last year's trip was so uneventful, and I've travelled to canada so much in the last few years that I was caught off guard. I always bring my passport, get my story clear and have all my details, etc. But they really grilled me this time. I gave them the dates of the tournament and the immigration guy really scrutinized it. He looked up the venue website and they had a different end date than I gave him. He actually said "It says April 14. I have a hard time believing you when there is a discrepancy." I had to direct him to another website to verify that I had the dates right.
Finally, he passed me along to customs. Customs Canadienne seems to think I fit the profile of "porn smuggler" because I had to hand over my laptop and let them search it. The agent spent about 10 minutes searching my harddrive. They also made me hand over the digital camera and remove the memory card (which I've actually never done, it's been in there since I bought the camera).
It didn't occur to me until later that I don't even know what my rights are in that situation. The border guards (be they US or Canadian) just have all the power. You just have to bend over, I guess.