Valentines Day

Valentine's Day was very special this year. This year our whole staff along with two of the Chevron couples went out for a very fun evening. There is a little back story here so here goes:

Every year our school holds a Student Council fund raiser to support our Community Service Fund. It is a dinner auction which features some great items such as hand made furniture, quilts, art and much more. One of the big items has typically been a special dinner the head of Chevron here in Rumbai. This has been an awesome item over the years that always brings in some big money. Well this year that item was not on the auction block due to circumstances beyond our control.

We needed to replace that big ticket item somehow. That meant that we had to come up with something. We decided that we would put a "Night Out with the Teachers" up. Our motto was "Bid High, Set Your Expectations Low." We made a little video to promote it that was that.

The lucky winners got to only pick the evening of the event and a couple to bring along. They were left to wonder what was going to take place that night. The pictures are the result of our evening. By the way this experience went higher then we expected.

It started with a dinner at a nice hotel here in Pekanbaru. They serve a very good steak. First they put an apron on you to keep you clean. Next they bring out to you a "hot stone" with your rare steak on it. You proceed to season your steak and cook it on this super heated stone at your table in front of you. Imagine a fajita coming out but you get to do the cooking. As you can see in the picture this creates a lot of smoke. Now imagine 11 of those steaks all cooking at roughly the same time. We only set off the smoke alarm in the restaurant once. We were really getting some looks from the other patrons for sure.

Next up was a Karaoke Session at a local Karaoke establishment. Karaoke is big here as it seems to be all over Asia. It is not like back in the states where you would go to a bar and sing in front of the whole place. Here you rent a room based on the number of people in your group and it is a private affair. Our room was actually very big and even had it's own bathroom. We all had a good time singing along with all sorts of music.

The final event of the evening was a prank of an unsuspecting house here on camp. I think we did a great job of decorating. Luckily they have a gardener to clean up the mess.

Next year will be even bigger and better I am sure!

Smoke em' if you got em'.

"Sweet Caroline...bum, bum, bum."

This picture doesn't show the cool lawn art that was purchased and placed in the grass. Think Indonesian Lawn Gnomes.

The lucky winners of "A Night Out With the Teachers" down in front. We had special shirts made for the guys and tiaras for the girls.