Samoa is Different. Very different. Visiting Samoa as a Web Ambassador has answered a dozen questions for me, many that I never thought to have asked.
To say Samoa is different is an understatement.
Obviously, as a structural designer by profession, the thing I noticed first was the totally different construction methods. I knew that Samoa had Fales without walls, but to see them all over the place, coming in from the airport was a real eye opener.
People actually live in houses without walls!
It makes perfect sense once you’ve experienced the heat over here. Any breeze is a delightful break from the hot, humid tropical climate. From a Palagi perspective this is just one example of the cultural differences between our way of doing things and the “Island way”.
In New Zealand I live in Managere Bridge, with plenty of experience of the Samoan way of doing things. Seeing how different the environment that Samoan people have come from is, answers so many of my unasked questions.
For example, I see why there’s no need to build footpaths over here. The dogs, pigs, chickens and people all walk on the roads in Samoa (!).
The speed limit is only 40kmph, so it is no worries to walk close to a moving vehicle, and the distance tolerances between a car, a bus, a taxi, a pedestrian can be inches, rather then the feet we expect in New Zealand.
There’s so much that is different . . . the language, the weather, the culture, the food, the politics, the infrastructure . . . as well as those buildings without walls!