as seen on TV

[deird1]

The barns look like barns on Smallville.

The schools really are big square buildings several storeys high.

There really is Wendys, and Applebees, and Dollar Tree.

People really do say "we need to get to Lexington and 9th" and "stay on FDR" (even me).

The school buses really are yellow, and really do drive all over the place.

People really do keep asking if you've found Jesus (and seriously, folks, he's not missing).

The houses look all American, with shingled roofs and window shutters.

The hydrants are just like the ones on Sesame Street.

Comments

[conuly]

Yes, but there are (almost) no alleys in Manhattan.

[deird1]

I know! It was so unexpected!

(Particularly because my city is known for its back-alleys.)

[snickfic]

Well now I have to ask what your school buildings look like! And how you talk about roads.

[deird1]

School buildings:

So, imagine a hillside. And scatter a few gum trees across it.

Now, build some buildings. All single-storey – maybe three or four classrooms in a single building. Scatter the buildings kind of randomly across the hillside.

It's occasionally going to rain hard enough to soak everyone. So, you need covered walkways between the buildings. Just covered with tin roofing over the footpath – no walls.

At least one of the buildings should be inexplicably inaccessible by covered walkways. Getting to this one will require holding your school books over your head and sprinting through the rain.

Most of the hillside is still open grass. Turn some of it into a basketball court, put in some kind of playground, and then put seats EVERYWHERE. (Lunch is eaten outside, on people's laps, so seating is crucial. Half the students will still eat sitting on the ground.)

If you're building a high school, lockers will be installed under the eaves of the buildings. (Primary schools don't have these.)

Add plenty of signage and small foliage, and you're done!

[deird1]

Roads:

Two factors here. Firstly, we don't navigate by corners nearly so much. If I wanted to be somewhat specific about a location, I'd say "on Boronia Road, between Woodvale and Rankin", or similar. It was quite odd getting to DC and New York and immediately changing to navigating via street corner.

Also, the examples I gave above weren't random. Before I'd ever been to New York – before I'd even glanced at a map – I still could have rattled off "Lexington and 9th" and "stay on FDR" (and more), because those phrases are in SO MANY SHOWS. Friends, Castle, Elementary, How I Met Your Mother, for starters – and I've watched all of them through multiple times. Navigating New York is something I've heard so often – so when I find myself using the exact same phrasing, it's very weird to me.

[out_there]

If I wanted to be somewhat specific about a location, I'd say "on Boronia Road, between Woodvale and Rankin", or similar

Huh. I'd honestly never noticed that, but yes. When I describe my place, I say "Thompson Road, between Cox and Donnybrook" and anyone local knows exactly which end of a rather long street I'm talking about.

[snickfic]

Your examples are very funny to me, because apparently you have watched WAY more TV set in NYC than I have. 😂 If asked I would have no idea what city those were in, or whether they were even real locations.

Anyway, thank you very much for this and your description of Australian schools! I knew people from other parts of the world didn't have yellow school buses or red barns, but the distinct features of our navigation and school buildings was totally new to me!

[tielan]

Isn't it nuts?

The first time I was in NYC (it was, admittedly over 20 years ago) I saw a fire hydrant painted like the American flag, and I was in the city alone and THERE WAS NOBODY TO EXCLAIM TO. (I didn't even have LJ in those days, no social media, nothing. So no way to share with other Aussies my: "wow, this really is America"). It was dire!

Glad you're having fun and enjoying the 'world of America (as seen on TV)'! :D

[deird1]

It's so weird! Everything's simultaneously brand new, and completely recognisable, because I've seen it on TV for YEARS.

[vass]

He went missing for a few days a while ago, didn't he? Maybe they haven't heard yet that he showed up again?

[deird1]

Yeah, he tends to do that...

[hnpcc]

Travelling to the US for the first time in October/November was the first time I really got Halloween. The shorter days, the winding to winter, the rustling corn stalks after the harvest, the houses in upstate NY that turn up in every horror movie... for the first time I realised how seasonal it was, and also that the Australian equivalent would be in a 3BR brick veneer (harder as usually 1 storey, no basement and minimal hiding places...)

[deird1]

Indeed. Like the first time I went to Europe: end of November, and there were fairy lights everywhere. And, in the dark cold afternoons, I suddenly understood WHY fairy lights existed.

[hnpcc]

Well for that and to hang on the hills hoist for summer bbqs... ;)

Christmas lights on the other hand make so much more sense in the far northern hemisphere!

[elisi]

Such fun! ^_^

[deird1]

Yay!

[lirazel]

This post delights me!

Do school buses...not drive all over the place in Australia?

[deird1]

So... we don't actually have them. Some kids take the bus to school – but on public buses. If the school has a lot of bus travellers, the public transport company might add an extra bus along that route, but it's still a public bus, used by anyone with a ticket.

And for excursions ("field trips"), schools arrange for charter buses. Which look very different (Greyhound-esque), and are fairly normal to see all over the place.

Seeing yellow school buses at all is weirdly TV-like to me. And seeing them showing up at museums dropping off students, or driving down the freeway, is extremely odd.

[lirazel]

Oh, okay! That makes so much sense! Most countries don't have school buses. I was trying to conceive of what it meant that they were just "driving around everywhere" like was there an Australian law that they can only drive on certain roads or something, and that was what was perplexing me! But if you're not used to them existing and then suddenly they are, of course that would look odd.

[hnpcc]

Just a side note to this: in rural areas there are buses which pick up kids to bring them into town to get to the school (more for secondary than primary, as there tend to be primary schools closer by). You need to live a certain distance from the school to be eligible (I think over 5km, um... 3 and a bit miles?) and as a rural kid it can be a PITA if you want to do any extracurricular activity as you'll miss the one bus and need to get your parents to pick you up (a common whinge at my school was this wouldn't happen until after milking).
Some private schools in the city run bus routes (which you pay for) and special/ist schools (for kids with additional needs) run routes as well which are either from a drop off point or door to door depending on the type of school and needs of the child. 5km limit applies here too (but our local SDS does a small, looking-the-other-way detour to pick up a very, very, very into buses child who lives around the corner from the school.)
(Grew up in the country, live 5.1km from the SDS, did all the paperwork).

[lyr]

Yes, but asking if someone has found Jesus is 1) a good way to get people to stop talking to you if you ask it, and 2) a good way to know whom to stop talking to if they ask it. See? Very efficient.

[deird1]

Heh. True.