Fah-Lay

People sort of live right out in the open in Samoa.  Their homes are open air. They call them Fale's.  Pronounced Fah-Lay.  Anyway, so you take your shoes off at the door.  And it's extremely rude to speak to somebody if you are standing and they are sitting and so you need to go inside the house and then sit, cross legged on the floor.  Then you can begin speaking.  And DON'T point your bare feet at anybody.  If you're a Westerner, they relax this rule for you a little bit and you can stretch out your legs, but you need to cover your feet with a mat or a scarf or something.

Sometimes there is a big house, or a main house, with the Fale out in the front yard.  Then they have another house for the kitchen and another for the bathroom.

These are some pics of a beautiful Fale we visited. Here there were chairs to sit in, and so the rules about sitting on the floor don't exist.  But still don't talk 'down' to somebody sitting in a chair.  Sit first.

Helen's dad chopped us a sugar cane and we ate it!

Then, coconut juice!