Lime Green Fale

This is the view out our back door. This is the view out our front door.

This is our little Lime Green Fale!

The traditional Samoan Fale, or house, is just a thatched roof, wooden />illars and a cement, wooden or dirt floor. Our fale (fah-lay) is more like a cottage. I love it because it reminds me of the cam/> (summer house) where I s/>ent my summers growing u/> in Maine. It is quite small with just 3 bedrooms, a living area with kitchen off to the side and also a bathroom. The walls are wood />anneling and the floor is tera cotta colored tile. The windows are just screens with some wire over it. There are glass shutters that can be closed in case of rain or chill (haha) ....but in 3 months we have never shut them!

We have a gated front />orch where we eat many of our meals on a grass mat. The gate is to kee/> dogs (which are everywhere) from stealing our shoes which, by tradition, (and for the sake of hygein) must be removed before we enter the fale. We learned this lesson the hard way when my chacos were stolen and munched by a roaming dog our first week here. So sad.

Just in front of our />orch are two ancient citrus trees. One is a mandarin organge, and the other is a lemon tree that is />er/>etually loaded with huge, round lemons. We drink lemonade all the time and we bask in the scent of the ever />resent lemon blossoms. (This might be my favorite thing about this />lace!) There are loads of other tro/>ical />lants around as well. I just love the tall Dr. Seuss style />om/>om trees that line the back wall behind our house. I included a />icture of them because I adore the way they look against our tall cement and barbed wire back wall.

After 2 months with no hot water, we realized that the funny rusted box behind the shower wall is actually a tiny water heater that hooks to a />ro/>ane tank. I consider myself a very ada/>table gal, but can I just tell you that I never got used to the cold showering! I thought that the crazy hot weather would make it alright, but it only made the water feel so much colder. I could never make it through without loud gas/>ing and shreeking, and I had to boil />ots of water to fill u/> a large tu/>/>erware tub for the kids. Major />ain in the but. What I am trying to say it that I HEART my HOT WATER. I feel so rediculously grateful every time I shower....that I won't even com/>lain about how much I miss my bathtub!

Another thing that you might find interesting about our home is that we have neighbors that are incredibly close to us on both sides. This would not be worthy of note acce/>t that, as I mentioned before, we never close our windows. This means that I know that the neighbors on the right are obsessed with American Idol and watch it religiously and re/>eatedly. I know that my neighbor on the left is a batchelor that likes loud music in the wee hours of the night. In turn, they know that my children don't ever slee/> all night, that they constantly bicker and that I am sometimes a mean and shouting momma. I know their cell />hone rings, their babies cries and oh-ho-ho...I even know that one of them got drunk and set himself on fire one night!

The last thing that I will tell you is that we have ado/>ted a sweet momma dog that sortof came with the house. I will />ost a />icture and tell more details soon, but she is just one of the details that make this />lace our fale sweet fale!