The Orange Shirted Men

Okay, I must say there is one thing that is getting really annoying here in India. The title of this blog post, the orange shirted men. Yes, men in orange shirts, following us around with cameras. They are the camera crew that was hired by SYA to document our time here. They will then use the footage for the DVD that advertises SYA for next year’s prospective students. I see the concept of it and the practicality of it. But, I don’t see why they need to film us every moment of our lives. And pose us! I’ve been taped eating, talking, riding on the bus, walking down the street, and being taking pictures of. It’s rather annoying.
Just yesterday a man came over to my house to take pictures of my host sister and me and the camera men came along to film as well. Not only was it annoying to have my picture taken because they were posing us in situations that don’t actually happen, but being filmed during this. I could hardly stand it. This man was really annoying too. He had me pose touching pictures on the wall like they were something I had never seen before or something. I felt ridiculous. Then they had my host mom pose showing me something from the kitchen and they said my hair was in the way of my face. So my host mom went to put it behind my ear and they were like, "Take a picture! Take a picture!" And I just started laughing, and they got all of that on film.
Then my friend Brooke was having a steak party. Yes, a steak party, in India. I’ll take a moment to explain this phenomenon. Her host mother is Christian, so she has not problem with beef. Knowing that us American’s love beef and that she wanted to feed it to us, she invited a bunch of us over for steak, mashed potatoes and apple crisp. It was wonderful. But, the camera men caught word of this and of course found their way over. While everyone was waiting for dinner the picture man posed us studying, like we were at some sort of study group. Then they set up the dinner table so they could take a picture of all of us together. This messed up Brooke’s host mom’s careful set up as well. They went far enough to even ask another girl, Callie, and me to change since they had already photographed us in those clothes! It was ridiculous, so we didn’t do it. Haha.
So pretty much, they are getting on my nerves. Though they left in time to not dampen the mood of the steak party. Which was quite fun and pleasant. I had a great time. The last week was really good. I’m starting to feel more at home here, if that is at all possible. Haha.
Much Love,
~ Jenna