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

[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).