Japanese Surgeon's Daily Life

Air Canada(AC) Lounge and Business Seat

　　It was the first time I had stepped into an international flight lounge run by airline companies. I had used the ANA(Japan-based Airline) lounge for domestic flights once, but that AC lounge was far above it. Over having light meals and alcoholic drinks, I enjoyed a TV program of the London Olympic Games. I spent about three hours there, wondering if the flight was delayed further, and I must have been seriously drunk. I had to kill an hour even after boarding. During torrential rain, all the services like fueling up, loading up and supplying food and amenities were suspended on all flights, which was why I had to spend an additional hour before taking off. Some canned beers and snacks were served during this time. When the plane moved to cruising from ascending, I saw how the seat worked and was surprised to see it become perfectly flat. I told an attendant not to wake me up even at dinner time, and slept. Perhaps with the efficacy of alcohol, I had a good sleep and when I woke up, dinner was served. It was a really luxurious experience.
　　When I arrived at Narita, I was really full of energy, so I successfully got through the baggage claim, customs, and passport control as I had intended, and received a hotel coupon and 3000 yen for supper from Air Canada. Together with the last trip, the total of three hotel coupons and five meal coupons were offered from Air Canda this year.

I Have Been There

　　I went directly to the information counter to get some information about my flight. They told me that I would have to wait for several hours. Her words reminded me of the upsets that I had experienced last March. I realized that I wouldn't be able to arrive at my hometown on the day when I arrived in Japan. I sent e-mails to my boss and my wife to explain my situation. Then, I sent an e-mail to my travel agent asking to book a hotel and the next flight. I wanted to be in my office on the next day.
　　Additionally, I had to deal with one thing. It was about my suitcase. I wanted to pick my suitcase up as early as possible in Narita in order to avoid jams. My flight would arrive at Narita International Airport late at night and passengers would be rushing to the designated counter for various procedures like booking hotels and flights from people who picked their suitcases up. You can save time if you pick your suitcase up earlier.
　　I asked for the extra price of a business seat. The seats were significantly vacant and they offered a discount price of 899 C$. I decided to take the business seat, because I thought I should take enough rest so as to attend my job on the next day.
　　Eventually, my selection turned out to be clever.

(Vocabulary)
I have been there. そこに行ったことがある。／それを経験したことがある。／それは経験済みだ。／そのことはよく知っている。
upsets [C] 番狂わせ;《[U], a/the ~》動揺, 気落ち; [C]もめごと, 面倒事; a stomach upset 胃の不調

Serious Delay Again

　　My vacation in Canada ended all too soon. On my last ski trip to Canada, the return flight to Japan couldn't land at Narita International Airport due to a seasonal storm. I had to stop over in Incheon, Korea away from Japan. If you'd like to know about it, please read a series of entries which starts from this entry(link). They must be funny and interesting. Anyway, just before departure from my hotel, I looked up the weather report on Japan via the internet. It was fine. The sky through the hotel window was clear. Something bad should never happen. When I was packing my suitcase, listening to the sound from the T.V., I felt I heard the word "storm". Looking back to the T.V. promptly, the forecast program was just over. The sky of Toronto was considerably fine and I couldn't believe the forecast. My ears were playing tricks, I assumed.
　　I used the transport service shown in the first picture from my hotel to the airport. On arriving at the airport, the driver asked my departure time. He was sorry to say, "a storm is coming! Your flight will be delayed or cancelled", pointing toward the black cluster of clouds in the distance. Just after entering the airport building, I heard the announcement to inform us that all flights were subject to delay. Now, what should I do in such case?

(Vocabulary)
Your ears are playing tricks on you.  空耳です。／気のせいだ。
in the distance  遠くに［で］
be subject to delay  遅れる可能性がある

The Ontario Parliament

　　At the end of the trip, I visited the Ontario Parliament. This Romanesque building was standing in the Queen's Park and was built in 1893 according to my travel guide. Its brown wall was very beautiful in harmony with the surrounding greenery. In spite of its location downtown, I found several squirrels in the park, which would imply the ecological sensibility of Canadian people. I'd like to have seen inside the building, but to my regret, it was late for the official sightseeing tour. I found the statue of John A. MacDonald in the park too. It was because I came across him again that I wrote "too". I remembered I had seen his statue also in Charlottetown. According to the description beside that statue, I knew he had been the first Prime Minister of Canada.
　　I had supper at a Mediterranean restaurant near my hotel because I hadn't had Mediterranean cuisine before, so I just tried it. The cuisine in the poster put up on the window facing the street looked really nice, but I was sorry to have chosen the restaurant. It might be acceptable for local people. However, I didn't like it.
　　Coming back to my hotel, checking the weather report on T.V., I packed my possessions up. The next day's weather would be fine and I fell asleep with ease.

(Vocabulary)
Romanesque  ロマネスク様式の
greenery 青葉, 緑の草木
ecological sensibility  環境意識の鋭さ
put up a poster  ポスターをはる
with ease  容易に, 簡単に, たやすく

Fort York

　　I finished my longitudinal walking on the Toronto Islands. I stopped by at a small amusement park on the way and was listening to little kids' English for some time. It was difficult to understand their words.
　　Returning to the mainland, I headed for Fort York at first, one of the tourist attractions, which is a fort constructed by the first Governor-General of Upper Canada, which is now Ontario, in 1793. People gathered and lived around the fort and formed a small community. It gradually became bigger and finally became Toronto City. This place was also the scene of the Battle of York in the War of 1812. It was ruined once, but rebuilt in 1815 and now is open to the public as a historic place. I saw several cannons on the wall, barracks and the changing of the guards. I was proud to remember such a place from my history class.
　　By the way, do you know Celine Dion? "La Memoire d'Abraham Lyrics" in her "French Album" came up suddenly. Canadians of French origin are grieving in the song, but how about native people? Though I think there's nowhere that hasn't the history of wars, I felt sorry for native people exposed to the invasion of Britain and France. Lots of soldiers might be lying under the soil so I walked around this historic site with their lives in mind.

(Vocabulary)
Governor-General  (英連邦諸国・植民地の) 総督
fort  砦(とりで), 要塞
War of 1812  英米戦争
La Memoire D'abraham Lyrics セリーヌディオンの French Albumに収められた「アブラハム平原の思い出」

Clothing Optional Beach

　　Every time I visited foreign countries, I came across something new to me and they were always surprises and fun. I'd like to direct your attention to the first picture. "Clothing-Mandatory Beach" on the destination board in the picture made me a bit upset. I racked my brain over the Japanese translation of "mandatory". This word is frequently used like "continuous mandatory ventilation" in the field of respiratory management and I thought that I understood it. However, "Clothing-mandatory" was hard to comprehend. Do People have to wear their clothes during swimming around there? Or, was this something related to Islamic women? Several minutes later, I found another destination board, which is shown in the next picture. "Clothing-optional" was also new to me. I decided to walk toward the direction the signboard indicated. There were no signs like "No Trespassing". I went on and on. Abruptly, the sight of two naked women lying on the beach entered my eyes and I was so surprised. At that moment I understood what clothing meant. "Clothing" meant swimwear, and "clothing-optional" meant that nudity was allowed there. A dressed man was wandering around naked women and I just saw him with a vague spaced-out feeling, but when I saw him start to take his clothes off, I ran out of there, because I was dressed. Might there be a place where dressed people weren't allowed to step in.

(Vocabulary)
destination board / screen  行き先表示板
rack　《通例受け身形で》(肉体的・精神的に)〈人〉をひどく苦しめる
be racked by/with sth ＜…＞にさいなまれる, 苦しむ
Liza was racked by guilt. 　ライザは罪の意識にさいなまれていた．
rack your brain(s) (思い出そうと) 必死に考える, (アイデアなどを出そうと) 知恵を振り絞る
rack one's brain over the question of  ～という問題に頭を悩ませる
make someone a bit upset （人）を少しばかり悩ませる
vague spaced-out feeling ボーッとした感じ

(Vocabulary from comments)
prudish (性的なことに対して) 過敏な, 潔癖な

On Algonquin Island

　　Toronto Islands consist of several small islands and Algonquin Island in the title is one of them. The name of Algonquin derives from that of the native Americans in eastern Canada. I'll show you some of the pictures taken during walking on the island. In Japan, you almost always aren't allowed to walk on the grass and I was walking along the paved path to avoid damaging the grass. After looking at the signboard in the first picture, however, I stepped on the grass area. There was no one but me around. It was a weekday. I could view the CN tower from there too. It was really the landmark of landmarks.
　　I found a description on the back of a bench on which I happened to sit down to take a rest. It is just what I thought at that time and might be incorrect, but this bench would be built by donations from good sons and/or daughters who missed their parents. Besides, I thought it was a good idea to honor loved ones in this way. Looking around carefully, there were several benches with such descriptions. Relatives and friends of the persons who were honored might enjoy picnicking around the benches. I'm supposed to see the mayor of my hometown next year, so I'm going to show him these pictures.

(Vocabulary)
Algonquin アルゴンキン族 (カナダ東部のアメリカ先住民)

Toronto Island (Hanlan's Point)

　　After seeing my daughter in front of her school, which is located in the northern part of the city, I went down to the south heading for the water front. Today's first destination was Toronto Island on Lake Ontario. The first picture was shot at the entrance of the port to the islands. It is called "skywalk", which is not so common in Japan, specifically in my hometown. I remembered my first visit to the U.S. It was 20 years ago in Minneapolis that I saw and knew a skywalk for the first time. My friend who was a researcher in the Mayo Clinic explained to me how critically cold it was in winter. I looked nostalgically back at those days. He has already passed away. Anyway, I'll continue. The next picture was the ferry which I got on-board. The cars and trucks got on first and the people next.
　　Abruptly I was assailed by a big sound in the third picture. It was from a passenger plane flying right above, which landed in the airport which I had viewed from the CN tower on the previous day. The next picture from the ferry is one of the three ports in Toronto Islands, Hanlan's Point. I was wondering from what the name "Hanlan" derived, and I found the statue of Mr. Hanlan and the description about him near the port. He seemed to have been a rowing phenomenon in 19th century.

(Vocabulary)
assail (文)〈人〉を悩ませる, さいなむ
be assailed by/with doubts  疑問に悩まされる
 …を激しく非難する  assail sb for sth  ＜人＞を＜…＞のことで激しく非難する
 〈悪臭・騒音などが〉 …を襲う
 〈敵・陣地など〉 を襲う, 襲撃する = attack

Skywalk in Hokkaido

My friend in Rochester

Poor Parental Feeling

　　The first thing that caused my concern when I got up in the morning was about my daughter, who had spent a night in an unfamiliar house. I had already planned to visit Toronto Islands, but I decided to stop by her school to see if she could get to the school by herself.
　　I bought a one-day free ticket for transportation including subway, streetcars and buses. This single ticket allowed me to utilize all these transport means alike. It was very helpful that I didn't have to worry about fares. I could get on and off them wherever I wanted.
　　As I wanted to look at her school and see its locale, I arrived rather early and took a walk around the area in which my daughter would spend a month. As a result, I felt a sense of security. I dropped in at a Tim Hortons near her school to have breakfast. This franchise is seldom seen in Japan, or perhaps there aren't any in Japan, I thought, so I took a snap of my breakfast.
　　The school requested that students should check in the school between 8:00 and 8:30 a.m. on the first day. However, she didn't show up at 8:00 a.m. I was afraid that she had lost her way to the school, and was concerned for some time, but finally she appeared at 8:25 a.m.

(Vocabulary)
parental feeling/tenderness  親心
locale [C](フォーマル) 場所, (事件・事故などの) 現場; (小説・映画などの) 舞台, 背景（地）=setting
a sense/feeling of security  安心感

(Vocabulary from comments)
for better or (for) worse  良くも悪くも; (結婚の誓いの言葉で用いて) 生涯いついかなる時も
Tim Hortons はカナダと米国のごく一部（？）にだけあるようです。スタバのような店です。

Lonely Supper

　　I would stay two nights in Toronto. My hotel was the Holiday Inn Toronto Downtown Center, which was located in the heart of the city and was really convenient for visitors like me. I was alone and lonely. I wondered what my daughter was doing in her homestay accommodation. Anyway, I decided to eat some kind of convenience meal and went to the nearest restaurant across the street. It was a Sushi restaurant and I remembered a fake Japanese restaurant in Charlottetown, but this sushi restaurant was located in downtown Toronto and I believed it must be nice. A waitress served me, who wore a kimono in the wrong way and couldn't communicate in Japanese. She was born in Japan and brought up in South Korea. To my further surprise, there was a counter and it was designed for customers to enjoy chatting with sushi chefs face to face. Sushi bars with such counters are extremely rare outside Japan. I sat at the counter at first. A single customer is usually introduced to a counter seat in Japan, but I was shown to a table seat for four persons. The sushi chef didn't emit even only one Japanese word and the waitress told me that their rice was imported from Japan, but I didn't think so. My tongue was better than they expected.
　　I would write about what the counter in Japanese restaurants means in another entry. I'm sure you would be surprised to know that.

(Vocabulary)
eat some kind of convenience meal  何がしかの簡単な食事を取る
serve [他]〈店員が〉〈客〉に応対する
There was only one girl serving customers. 客の応対をしていたのは女の子の店員1人だけだった．

I'd like you to read this article.
http://www.nomadicmatt.com/travel-blogs/13-reasons-why-i-fell-in-love-with-japan/

From the Observation Deck

　　I understand that the CN Tower is a major attraction for visitors to Toronto. As I expected, the entrance hall was packed with lots of people, though it was past 18:00 hours. Finally, I had to wait for nearly an hour to reach the elevator to the observation deck.
　　The landscape from the deck was magnificent. There was no silhouette of mountains. Such scenery couldn't be seen around my hometown. The horizon wasn't straight. I realized the roundness of the earth. To tell the truth, I don't like heights. I climbed up there to get a rough image of Toronto. Just a single day was left for me to see around. I had to determine where to visit the next day. I was going to arrange my next day's sightseeing plan.
　　A long and thin island caught my eye when I moved to the south side. A part of it was an airport. Middle class passenger planes were frequently landing and taking off. I also saw some piers mooring several dozen pleasure boats. It would be fun if I could wander around the island, I believed. I made up my mind to spare a half day before noon of the next day to see around the island.
　　Then when I went to the down elevator, I found a crazy signboard (the last picture) which said you could walk outside on the observation deck. I tried to go out, but at once got back inside. So scared!

Historic Site of Canadian National Railway

　　Lots of visitors bustled around the CN Tower. While I was wandering around, I found several retired trains displayed. Some of those trains seemed to be re-used as shops or cafes. "CP Rail" and "CANADIAN NATIONAL" were printed on the side of those trains. I rode on VIA Rail, the "Rocky Mountaineer," from Calgary to Vancouver 17 years ago, so are there three railroad companies in Canada?
　　In addition, the turntable and the additional building for maintenance work remained almost intact. This area was like a railroad museum. My travel guidebook said nothing about this facility, but I thought it should be listed in the book. A part of the maintenance work building also seemed to be used as a shopping street. The position where the CN Tower stood must have been the birthplace of the CANADIAN NATIONAL. I imagined that the network of the railroad would have expanded from this point across the country. The naming and position of the "CN Tower" must have been derived from the CANADIAN NATIONAL Railroad Company. I was convinced.
　　The last picture was shot just from underneath the CN Tower. According to the signboard, there were several tour programs operating in the tower, and I wanted to climb up to the highest point, but there were so many people waiting. I chose the tour with the shortest waiting time.

(Vocabulary)
bustle about/around せわしなく動き回る
bustle with something 〈場所が〉＜人・活気など＞でにぎわう

Additional Pictures

Casa Loma

　　It was already a little past 4 p.m. It was regrettable that our departure from Niagara Falls had been delayed according to the transport company's convenience. I decided to visit one of the tourist attractions, castle-like Casa Loma firstly, because it was located relatively near my position at that time. According to my travel guide, it had been built as the residence of a Canadian military officer who had raked in a lot of money in running the hydraulic power plant at Niagara Falls. I remembered that I had seen a ruined factory from the sightseeing boat, the Maid of the Mist, on the previous day. I thought it must have been the power plant. When I reached the site, the sightseeing tour inside was over and I could only walk around the house. It was built on a hill and the second picture was the CN tower from the hill. It was the landmark of the landmarks in Toronto.
　　The time passed 5 o'clock, but the sun was high enough to continue wandering in the city and I headed for the waterfront. I didn't have any purpose. I just wanted to walk around the CN tower. I took the subway from the nearest station, Dupont, to Union Station, where I lost my way underground, but when I emerged outside and saw the magnificent view of the CN tower, I knew where I was.

(Vocabulary)
convenience 　[U] (人にとっての) 都合のよさ, 便宜
at your convenience  都合のよいときに
hydraulic power generation  水力発電
decrepit 老衰した, よぼよぼの／老朽化した, おんぼろの

Greek Town

　　The daughter whom I left alone with a strange Canadian family is the youngest one of three daughters. She is already twenty years old, but I feel she is still childish. My wife often told me that I should separate myself from her, but I can't stop worrying about her. Anyway, after a short talk with her homestay family members, I left the house in which she would stay for the next four weeks.
　　I strolled to the south with the map displayed on my smartphone. It was very useful to know where I was right at that time. It was because I wanted to look around and know the neighborhood where my daughter would live for four weeks as much as I could. Finally I reached an open space, where a statue of a possible Greek man stood. I guessed he was Greek from the letters used in the description on the base on which the statue was set. Alexander the Great by any chance? Some Greek flags were put up around and you can also see them in the picture. This area was actually the Greek neighborhood. See the second picture, which was taken there. My daughter's homestay family had an unfamiliar surname and I noticed they were of Greek origin, seeing this flag in the pictures below. I don't have permission to describe the homestay family in detail and can't write much, but they looked nice and kind.

(Vocabulary)
stroll  [自] ぶらぶら［のんびり］歩く, 散歩する
stroll along/across/around etc. sth ＜場所＞をぶらぶら歩く［横切る，歩き回る］

Homestay Destination

　　We left for Toronto at about noon, five hours later than scheduled, due to the delay of the bus, though we wanted to arrive in Toronto at least before noon. While I was heading for Niagara Falls 2 days before, I happened to catch a passing glimpse of a cargo ship raised several meters higher than the level of the river. It was the Welland Canal's Centre Lock 3. I had checked the accurate point on the map and was watching out so as not to miss the timing of the snapshot. As a result, I could take some pictures, but there wasn't a ship. Moreover I was on the opposite side of the lock. I was really sorry not to have taken a picture on the way to Niagara Falls. Anyway, I'll show you the picture of the lock of the canal.
　　The CN Tower, the famous local landmark, became bigger as our bus went into the city of Toronto. It was so tall and prominent that you could tell where you were, utilizing the position of the sun and the tower wherever you might be.
　　I took my daughter to her homestay accommodation immediately after I checked in my hotel in downtown Toronto. I had been afraid whether she could spend four weeks by herself in Toronto, but I felt an enormous sense of relief when I met the homestay family.

(Vocabulary)
homestay accommodation  ホームステイ先
passing 通りすがりの
I caught a passing glimpse of the President.  通りすがりに大統領がちらりと見えた．
lock [C] (運河などの) 閘門(こうもん)
lock gates  閘門扉
prominent よく目立つ
a prominent local landmark  よく目立つ地元のランドマーク
a sense/feeling of relief  ほっとすること, 安堵感
I felt an enormous sense of relief when I heard I'd passed my exam. 試験に受かったと聞いて心の底からほっとした．

Peculiar Restaurant

　　We chose a peculiar restaurant named "Rainforest Cafe" for dinner, which was located on the busiest street, Clifton Hill. The inside was designed to simulate the rain forest. Several mechanical animals such as gorillas, birds and elephants moved around us and even the roar of thunder, squalls and animals often echoed through the hall. Can you detect a gorilla in the first picture?
　　After dinner, while we walked to our hotel, we found an array of concrete blocks with steel wires connected. They were anchors of the tightrope which I showed in the previous entry. I'm scared of heights and I found it unbelievable that a human being walked on the rope set at such a high place.
　　Coming back to our room, I found a small lamp on the phone blinking. It was the sign of a message left on voice mail. My daughter checked it. It was from the transport service company, informing us of the delay of the next day's shuttle bus to Toronto. Because the company knew our flight schedule, they thought the delay didn't mean a lot. However, it was too one-sided. I unconditionally had to obey their modified schedule and changed the sightseeing plan on the next day. If we had received a refund, we could have changed the shuttle bus into the train as the means of transportation to Toronto. Finally, we killed the early hours uselessly on the next morning.

(Vocabulary)
echo through/around sth  ＜場所＞に響き渡る, こだまする
The sound of thunder echoed all around the valley.  雷鳴は谷じゅうに響き渡った．
drop/weigh anchor  錨を下ろす/錨を上げる
be scared of sb/sth  ＜…＞を怖がる
She's scared of spiders. 彼女はクモを怖がる．
I find it unbelievable that  …とはとても信じがたい
blink〈ライトなどが〉点滅する
mean a lot (to somebody)（＜人＞にとって）とても重要である
one-sided〈試合・会話などが〉一方的な;〈関係などが〉一方的な, 不公平な
a one-sided contest  一方的な勝負

Niagara Glen

　　We went down along the Niagara River by shuttle bus, just after coming back to the Canadian side. About 10 minutes later, our bus stopped in front of a tiny hut, which was the gate to the riverside of the Niagara River. As I had expected, the current velocity and amount of water was indescribably fierce. Seeing the rapid current, I remembered the Caroline affair which had occurred in 1837. The wreck or something associated with the steamboat SS Caroline might remain in the waterfall basin or a water pocket around there. The hut, which I referred to above in a bad way, was a history museum inside. From the papers on display, I knew that lots of people had tried to swim across the river or go down the Niagara falls in some container like a wooden barrel. Some succeeded, but most people didn't come back. The stripe pattern on the wall of the bank of the river revealed the constantly continuing crustal movement. I found a large-scale dam on the opposite side of the river. I wondered whether it generated power or was it for cultivation. We strolled along the pathway carved on the wall for a while. It was fun, just like becoming "Indiana Jones", which you can see in the last picture. I met several groups of campers. If I could spend a while and sleep in such primitive circumstances, how wonderful it would be. We stayed around the glen for about one hour.

(Vocabulary)
crust 地殻
crustal change/crustal movement  地殻変動
carve decorative patterns on   ～に彫刻刀で加飾する













See also;
http://www.niagarakanko.on.ca/gallery/gellery_of_niagara_river.htm

Back To Canada

　　After viewing the exquisite landscape, we went back to Canada directly without joining any tours that went close to the falls from the U.S. side. I had visited the falls from the U.S. side about fifteen years ago, but I could see just around the falls at that time partly due to the lack of time. Therefore, I was going to look around the lower part of the Niagara River this time.
　　On the way back, two young men who seemed to work in the park spoke to us, "Hey, Chinese!" The number of Chinese people who visit the falls would be bigger than that of Japanese people. I didn't want to be taken as Chinese, but they couldn't tell the Japanese from the Chinese or Korean. "JOHN DEERE" on the back of the garbage truck which he drove might have been his name. If he googles his name some day and finds this article, it would be fun. Anyway, they were so cheerful.
　　The second picture shows the exit to Canada. You have to go through this revolving door, cross the river and pass the check point of Canadian immigration. Having arrived in Canada, we took a shuttle bus to move to Niagara Glen, which was said to have been formed around 7000 years ago. I'm going to write about the glen in the coming entry.

(Vocabulary)
partly due to ～であることもあり、、、
back of the truck / truck bed  トラックの荷台

American Fall

　　We were fingerprinted in the immigration procedure. Our fingerprints were never listed in any black lists in the world, and so I wasn't afraid of any accusation or being taken into custody. However, we didn't feel good. We weren't criminals, but the rule was the rule. I obeyed the U.S. immigration rules. I knew that the security check at the immigration counter in the U.S. had become stricter in the past decade due to the undiscriminating terror threat to the U.S. To tell the truth, I have never chosen a U.S.-based airline company for more than a decade due to the same reason. Until the U.S. abolishes the collection of fingerprints from travelers, I would never stop avoiding U.S. airlines.
　　Anyway, back to the Niagara Falls, we headed for the American Fall immediately. The Niagara Falls are formed on the Niagara River separating the U.S. from Canada and so the Niagara Falls are divided into part of the U.S. and part of Canada. We went close to the part of the U.S., which is called the American Fall. I'll show you pictures of the fall below. I hope you'll see how magnificent it was.

(Vocabulary)
fingerprint 〈人〉の指紋をとる
undiscriminating terrorism  無差別テロ

Border

　　After a quick lunch, we crossed the border into the U.S. The procedure was not difficult, but I had an unpleasant experience at the immigration control of the U.S. and I'm going to write about it. The first picture is the entrance of the immigration building. We were called one by one to the counter. When I was waiting for my daughter's clearance, I was called by another official. He called me shouting "Hey, Cowboy hat!" I didn't think immediately that he invited me, but I understood his words by his pointing at me and the eye contact with him. He looked to be in his mid-twenties and was chatting with his young woman co-worker all the time. His rudeness really made me mad. I've never been called like that. I thought of carrying on a battle of nerves like I pretended that I couldn't understand English at all, but I changed my mind. He was not worth the effort. I didn't want to waste time. On the way back to Canada, the Canadian officer was polite and very dignified. The contrast was impressive.
　　In the second picture, my daughter is heading for the U.S. on the Rainbow Bridge connecting both banks across the Niagara River. The last picture is of the description on the bridge. I took this with my one leg in the U.S. and the other in Canada.

(Vocabulary)
immigration clearance  入国手続き
clearance  [U] 許可, 認可
get/receive/obtain clearance  許可を得る
clearance to do sth   ＜…＞する許可
be in your twenties  20歳代である
in your early/mid/late twenties  20代初め［半ば，後半］に
carry on a war of nerves  嫌がらせをする
a battle/war of nerves  神経戦
sth is worth your while  ＜…＞は時間［労力，金］をかける価値がある, 無駄ではない
Taking a computer class would be well worth your while. コンピュータの授業をとるのは決して無駄にはならないよ．
be worth the effort/trouble/time  努力する［骨を折る，時間をかける］価値がある
The dish is difficult to cook but worth the effort.  難しい料理だけどがんばって作る価値はある．