A Separate Universe

Guy and I have started watching the series "Fringe".  It started in 2008, but we are a little slow on the uptake, and we are just now being able to find the time to really watch shows together again.:)  (Don't ask me about any new programs that came on television between the years of 2006 and 2010....I was too busy with a a few screaming toddlers!;))  For those of you who are not familiar with this series, it is a science fiction series based on weird and abnormal things which the FBI investigates.  These abnormal happenings are classified under "fringe science"... hence the name "Fringe".  One of the main plots is the idea that there are two separate but parallel universes.  The show goes on to say that we are living in one universe and another "us" is in the other universe.  The other universe is similar to our universe but slightly different. Although I know that this is pure fiction, I couldn't help but think of living here as like I was in a separate universe.   I have written about a parallel life I feel like I have since becoming an expat, but seeing this series has me thinking about it even more.
The feeling that I am in a separate "universe" immediately begins when we land in Lagos.  I look around and indeed we are in an airport....but it is not like any airport I have ever seen before.  People are pushing and shoving, the body odor is pretty bad, and usually you have to bribe the customs officers before they let you out the door.  Then, outside the airport doors is complete madness.  Horns are honking, people are yelling to you asking if you need a taxi, people are burning who knows what in trash cans...

The "me" in this universe doesn't drive...I have a driver.  That is something the old me never would have thought I would have...

Riding in the car down the streets, you can see shops...but they just aren't what I had ever seen before.  I have written about seeing a shop on the outside here and then actually going inside are two different things.  Sometimes, that's true...but sometimes...it's not...

In the other universe, I always took being American for granted.  Here, I am reminded I am American everyday by how much I didn't really know about the rest of the people who live in this huge world...

In this universe, I use cash only...credit cards are huge risk to use here.  I never thought I would practically be carrying a shoe box around for all the money you need to buy things here...

In the other universe, I never saw what utter poverty and destitution looked like until I came here.  There are poor people in the U.S. who I saw occasionally...but that is nothing compared to what I see on the streets each and every day...

In this universe, I realize that having electricity that works reliably is a luxury...and I so took it for granted in my parallel universe...

In this universe, my children find their fun playing on a tennis court, and not on playgrounds and parks with fresh green grass...

In this universe, my children are leaning about holidays like Diwali and the many different Eids celebrated by Muslims all over the world...

In this universe, Jeremy is learning French at school...I really don't know that that would happen in the parallel universe...

In this universe, Elizabeth loves this doll...

I don't know if she would in the other "universe"...

Some of you may know exactly what I'm talking about, and some of you may be shaking your head thinking this girl is insane. Living here is like a separate world apart from anything I have ever experienced.....it really does feel like we are in a different universe when I'm here. It has things here which remind me of my other universe, but they are slightly different in so many ways.:)