SIFF: Surin International Folk Festival

These are our prestigious tags. They got us in for free. Notice: We are Thai Staff!

Here's Leah talking to her Italian distant relatives! She figured it out!

This is the performer from China. She sang very well, but VERY high and VERY loud!

Somewhere around mid-January, Surin Rajabhat University, where I work, put on an international folk festival. I was told that they would invite people from different countries, and so I expected some of what I saw, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, etc... But I did not expect to see Lithuania, Italy, China and Norway there! There really WERE people from all over the world at the festival to perform their traditional music and dances.

Honestly, the most impressive was the Philippines. They had the most animated dances, jumping and flipping, and doing things with candles and light. It really was amazing to see. And perhaps it was a little taste of heaven in this sense: In Revelation 5 it speaks of people coming to Christ from every family and nation and culture on the earth, and later singing and speaking His praise. So while these people were not necessarily praising the true God, it was interesting to see different cultures, hear their language and see their interpretation of life.

One funny thing did happen. See, the Thais were having trouble understanding what one group wanted. Could you guess it? That's right, the Italians. They were asking where the kitchen was, and the Thais could not figure out why they wanted to know where the kitchen was. So of course, they turned to their resident Italian, Leah Kilcup. She was dragged over to the Italian table where they were told, "she's Italian". As their nature would have it, they began rattling off to her in Italian. Now Leah does understand some Italian, but not at 90 mph! So she did her bes t to get them to slow down long enough for her to understand. Come to find out, they wanted to clear the table and wash the dishes, and needed to know where the kitchen was to do so. Leah explained that in Thailand, they do EVERYTHING for you. After a while, they came to terms with the way things are done here, and let the Thais clear their table. But you could tell they felt a little awkward. It was really a neat experience, I told Leah she was with "her people". We laughed about it, but the truth is that we are here to serve however we can. Even if it is interpreting in languages we don't really know. I did have another Thai student come to me and ask if I could interpret for the Israelis. I don't know Hebrew THAT well at all!