Maybe you don't know this about me, but I grew up less than five miles from the Canadian border in a small little Dutch town called Lynden. We frequently crossed the Canadian border for day trips or even school field trips. I know all the rules for crossing the border, I know the best crossings to take at different times of the day and I know exactly what to expect during a crossing. But it took a few lessons to learn these tricks and this is one of those lessons.
 |
| First day of school pictures. Our dog Taffy, Julie, Me and Jackie |
I grew up eating hot lunch at school every day, so when my fourth grade class was taking a trip to the Vancouver, British Columbia Zoo I was very excited. Mostly because it meant I was going to get a brown bag lunch. Thrilling stuff, right? Well, mornings were not really mom's thing and when I reminded her about two minutes before the bus arrived that I needed a packed lunch that day, she was panicked. I ended up with a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, carrot sticks, applesauce and a banana. Not a bad lunch right?
Everything was going great so far. I got to sit next to my friend on the bus for the field trip and we were having a great time. Until we got to the Canadian border and the border patrol agents decided to pull the bus over and check us for contraband. Seriously? What kind of contraband do a bunch of fourth graders have? Well, lucky me, my mom had forgotten in her panicked state that you can't take any fruit or vegetables across the border. Something about transporting bugs or something. As if they can't fly up there on their own... So basically, my entire lunch was in violation of this international law and was therefore seized. I was devastated. My beautiful, rare brown bag lunch was gone.
My teacher had to buy me lunch at the Zoo. I was convinced all the kids were laughing at me. My glorious day of a field trip and brown bag lunch were ruined. To this day, I am very strict that there are zero fruits or veggies in the car with me when I cross the border. Canada will not make a fool out of me again!
Be sure to stop by the link up and see what other lessons are
being shared today!
XOJO
Yessss! Lynden! Love it :) there's another blogger out here that lives up there... You might know her? Brittin at olsens travels?
ReplyDeleteYeah you might know me! Haha I love Kristine! I don't remember the border patrol careing about anything we brought across the border back then. Maybe I was just oblivious. Haha I would have been traumatized too.
ReplyDeleteAwww your poor, poor child!! I've been to Regina, Sask and we went through the border twice. While it was uneventful, I hoped that we would get searched so that I would have a story to tell. I wish I would have known about this-- I totally would have hidden a banana somewhere in the car ;)
ReplyDeleteWow, I never knew there were such strict controls at borders across land! I can understand it when travelling to somewhere far far away by air or sea, but I'm so surprised when any bugs or whatever could just stroll across on land!
ReplyDeleteOh my gosh this is such a sad story! Something like that would have mortified me at that age. They were so mean, taking food from a little kid!
ReplyDelete