I am a Muggle.

I, like 90% of the human race, voraciously read the Harry Potter series. I discovered the series shortly after book  three was released when I still worked one day a week at a Waldenbooks (mostly for the book discount). I quietly checked out book one from the store (another perk of being a trusted employee), quickly read it and checked out book two, then three. By the time book four came around, I slowly acknowledged to friends and family that I, too, was reading the children's book series. By then, the Harry Potter momentum was on the upswing and it was becoming more acceptable for adults to proclaim their love of the book series.

The story itself was and is amazing. Once I read all seven books, I re-read them again (and again), and was surprised by how well thought out the series was, from beginning to end. But what captured me the most was the magical world in which Harry Potter lived. Hogwarts, Gryffindor, Dobby the house elf, the ministry of magic, owl mail carriers,  Nearly-headless-Nick, etc. — all of it truly transported me into a realm so far removed from my own. 

No mail for this muggle!

And then I moved to England. One of the first days I was on my own, I walked up to the Sainsbury Local (a neighborhood grocery store) and a nearby school had just let out. Scads of teenagers in crested-jackets, ties, plaid skirts, and knee-high socks swarmed the Sainsbury Local buying after school snacks. They moved in packs, as teenagers do, chatting and laughing in their posh British accents and I stood there, dumbfounded. I felt as though I had been plopped down in the midst of a school break to Hogsmead! I was a muggle amongst the magical elite!

I stood there to soak it all in. Yes, yes, I know, England is not really the magical realm JK Rowling created in her book series, but she created such an all-encompassing world I thought was truly fictional. 

And then I moved to England. 

I have since learned that the schools here run very similar to Hogwarts… or, I should say, Hogwarts is just a British school, albeit a magical one. In England you are placed into a house upon arrival at the school (a house you will remain a part of until you move away or graduate), and each year you and your housemates compete for point, with an end-of-year celebration for the winning house. The school uniforms, prefects, head boy and head girl, all standard fair in the British school system. They play cricket (Which I have since seen played, and it was so confusing, there could have been a quaffle and golden snitch, for all I know!) and have a headmaster. 

As the similarities between the two worlds began to emerge, I initially felt duped. Damn, you, JK Rowling!! I thought you had made it ALL up! 

Not headed to Hogwarts

But as the dust settled, I realized that the magical world of Harry Potter is still magical. And her book series continues to be one of my favorite things ever. It's just that I took for granted that all schools must work the same way the American school system works. Why was I so surprised that this wasn't so? 

Aside from my birth in Minnesota, I have lived my life entirely in California, until we embarked on our British adventure. England's primary language is English, it is a first world country, and the US and UK have so much in common. Yet each week I seem to learn a new lesson about the world around me and the people who live in it that I never would have learned living in my comfortably understood life in California. 

I realize that not many people can move to another state, let alone another country. But understanding that there is a great big world of people out there whose norms are so different than my own is something I strive to acknowledge. That vastly different world may be on an entirely different continent, or just down the road.

That strange gal across the street? She may be caught in an epic battle against he-who-must-not-be-named, so I should probably cut her some slack. The world in which she lives may be a far more magical (or frightening) world than my own.  

An unknown and mystifying world doesn't have to be a magical platform away.