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Today is the first time I have traveled by plane in America since the September 11 terrorist attacks last year. Things are still very strict here at airport security. Now, I look like an ordinary American in many ways, but there are suspicious things about me. All of my ID cards have slightly different names on them for one reason or another, something that has never been corrected because I don't live in America. The only driver's license I have from a US state expired in 1980, I don't have a bank account or a car, or a house and I know so little about current daily life that I seem a little like Rip van Winkle (America's Urashima Taro.) At the boarding gate of my flight - the last security check before getting on the plane - not having the proper ID cards in hand,
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I was body searched and all my hand baggage was searched by three people in turn.(It had already been X-rayed four times!) The best part, though, was that I was wearing sandals with very thin straps and a very thin sole. "Take off your shoes, please," said the guard. There was a moment of silence while I removed them and when the guard held them up to the metal detector everyone else waiting in line broke into laughter. I was happy that it ended well for me and for them.
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English Academy