The "Grahamstown Nice"

In the states, we call it the “Minnesota nice” when we encounter the pleasantness and helpfulness from the majority of Minnesotans. According to Wikipedia, ‘Minnesota Nice’ “is the stereotypical behavior of long-time Minnesota residents, to be courteous, reserved…with polite friendliness, an aversion to confrontation.” It seems the same can be said about our new home, Grahamstown.

Our decision to move to Grahamstown when we did was both brilliant and stupid. You see, from June 30-July 10, the town hosts the 2nd largest arts festival of its kind in the world. Obviously, we feel fortunate to be in Grahamstown to experience this festival; however, it has also left us homeless due to the difficulty of finding affordable housing during this period. We did find a home, but couldn’t move in until July 10th – the owners of our flat had high-paying renters during the festival. So, our life has been chaotic and Gypsy-like as we found ourselves moving seven times in one month. Aside from a few B&Bs, we found three generous individuals to take us in as guests in their homes. For a week, we lived with the father, Joe, and the cat, Mitts, of our couchsurfer friend, Laura. And, for another five days, we lived with Leigh-Anne, who organized Jodi’s volunteer experience at the Raphael Centre. Leigh-Anne and her husband spontaneously offered their house to us when Jodi mentioned that we were still looking for accommodation. And if that isn’t enough to demonstrate the niceness of Grahamstonians (as they call themselves), here is another example. We locked our keys in our car on a freezing-cold Saturday night, in the midst of this bustling festival, and called the one locksmith in town. We were relieved to get a hold of him and learn his charge is 250 rand ($40 USD or so). In the states, we think this would cost at least $100. So while we were extremely frustrated to be wasting money, we were pleased with the price as we were utterly helpless. The locksmith arrived and unlocked our car in about 30 seconds and tells us we can just give him 200 rand. Why?! We already agreed to pay 250 rand, we had no other options, and he still had to come out of his warm house to help us. I guess to be nice. Probably not the best business model, but we appreciated it! I guess if we know someone else who is as stupid as us with their keys, we can refer him. Then again, he IS the only locksmith in town.

The arts festival in Grahamstown definitely lives up to its reputation. At first, we were confused at the length of the festival and why everyone seemed to attend the entire eleven days of the festival. Wouldn’t one just come for three days and call it good?! But we understood completely when we picked up the massive program with over 200 pages. For eleven days, there are endless amounts of activities – plays, music performances, films, dance performances, comedians, art exhibits, lectures, craft shopping, etc. We spent nine days viewing a variety of shows, art exhibits, and lectures. We saw everything from acapella music, a comedian give great detail on oral sex, a play about the historic Anglo-Zulu war in KwaZulu-Natal, another play about conscription under apartheid, a cartoon art exhibit, guys in costumes walking on stilts to pantsula (dance style from the townships) and krump dance performances.

Speaking of business models, Grahamstown decided long ago to plan the festival during their down season to kick their economy back into gear a bit, which means it takes place during the winter. It is COLD and incredibly wet; and more often than not it felt like we were going to have to have our feet amputated from frost-bite as we watched performances. Because you see, South Africa does not have central heating in buildings as we do in the US. So even when dining in a restaurant, there may be one gas heater struggling to heat up an entire room. Or even worse, no heating devices and the doors wide open! We’ve seen a lot of this leaving-the-doors-open-in-the dead-of-winter business so far. It is insane. At one point, Chris had two pairs of pants on, at the same time! (Insert Jodi’s comment: only a skinny man could do such a thing). We’re just not used to finding no warm refuge in the winter. Our little car’s heater, exercise, showers, and water bottles for the bed all ended up being saviors! Thankfully, the flat we are staying has heating contraptions, including a wall heater, space heater, and electric blanket.

Jodi: I have five more weeks left in South Africa and they very well may be spent in the bed attempting to stay warm. In bed, I can watch TV, blog, call clients and write resumes, work on photo projects, read, and sleep – what more is there to do?! I will only need to go out in the cold for the gym and to volunteer. Speaking of volunteering, I have begun working for the Raphael Centre, a nonprofit dedicated to preventing and supporting individuals infected with HIV/AIDS. It is a fantastic organization with kind, interesting people employed there. I have been looking into funding options and proposal writing with the Director. In addition, we have already met some of Laura’s friends here and will be watching reality TV with them every Monday night. Aside from the cold, Grahamstown has been a great move for us.

Chris: When we had some time prior to the festival, and even during the festival, I have been busy setting up appointments with some contacts and potential research assistants here. I also had to complete an agonizingly long and tedious update for the ethics review board at CU.

Right now, we are in Port Alfred, on our last leg of homelessness before moving into our new place on Sunday. Port Alfred is a little town on the beach and it is slightly warmer than Grahamstown due to the currents from the Indian Ocean. We attempted to visit the tourist information center on a Saturday; but true to our experience, it was closed. As we were peeking around the building, Jodi opened the front door and set off the alarm! Apparently, they forgot to lock the office. Jodi really wanted to grab a free brochure but felt too much like a thief to grab it, what with all the alarms blaring.

We went on a beach hike with fantastic views of the waves hitting the rocks and endless sand dunes. As we were eating our lunch in our car for the millionth time (great way to save money and the car is warm), we both agreed we cannot wait to have a home and eat lunch at a proper table. We are staying in a fantastic little B&B that overlooks the ocean so we listened to the waves last night as we drifted to sleep.


On our way back to Grahamstown, we stopped at an art market and the “Big Pineapple” in Bathhurst. The Big Pineapple is a four-story, pineapple-shaped building with information on pineapple farming and canning in the Eastern Cape. It is co-owned by seven pineapple farmers in the area. We bought three pineapples for $1.50 USD! We had a blast at this fun, educational tourist stop right on the road to Grahamstown.

Despite the chaos and restlessness and cold, we have definitely been living a nice life as we gallivant around South Africa experiencing festival shows, pineapple tourist traps, and the gorgeous views and sounds of the ocean.