Yes, "Strange way" is just the perfect way to describe the beauty of a Teal! It is very practical, and utilitarian, having been designed by Dave Thurston, who was also a design contributor to the design of some famous Grumman flying boats, and the Lake Amphibian. It's all very purpose built, and practical, though unconventional in many ways. I have spoken to Dave a number of times about the details of the Teal, but sadly, he has now retired from aviation, at the age of 93!
Parts are actually very easy to come by, as the fellow who owns the one I presently fly, also owns several other Teals in pieces, all of the left over parts from the original production (and there are lots), and the Type Certificate!
As GtW correctly offers, insurance for planes that float can be rather costly, particularly for low time pilots. There are two very clear reasons for this: Be it a straight float plane, the insurance company knows that every place you land and takeoff will not be a runway, so there are many variables that you will have to assess, and get right, which an airport already makes right for you, were you to be flying a wheel plane. If the subject plane is an amphib, yes, you might be at a nice runway with it, but then you might land with the wheels up. Worse, you might land on a remote lake with the wheels down. Both are bad, but when you have a problem on a body of water, it can be very expensive to remove what's left of the plane. Here in Canada, it's common that the site of the event can be 100's of km from the nearest road.
Float flying can be complete fun, but there is a lot of additional responsibiliy for the pilot, and the cost and effort to make right even a small problem, gets very high quite quickly....
Come to Ontario, and I'll introduce you to a training outfit who trains in 172 float planes, and rents them out for local flights.