Significant events following sledding and poker included the Biathlon dinner which consisted of a free meal followed by a PowerPoint presentation describing the activities surrounding volunteer work at the Biathlon stadium.  These included cross-country skiing (looks way harder than downhill skiing) and target practice using these environmentally friendly lazier guns.  I did not give cross-country skiing a try but I did however get to practice my shooting with the lazar gun and my aiming skills were surprisingly above average!

That weekend it was Valentines Day and I had plans to go to a valentines party with my flat mate Tuula and several of her friends.  There we played games ate snacks and drank this really delicious punch involving Malibu rum.  One of the games we played consisted of two people competing against another pair of people where one partner is blindfolded and has to clip the greatest number of close pins onto his/her partner.  Me and my partner ended up winning with me as the blindfolded one and him as the unlucky subject getting close pins clipped directly to his skin.  Shortly after my triumph, it was time for me and Tuula to head out and make our way to the music venue, Kerubi, to see her favorite band in the world, Stamina.  Stamina is a Finnish metal band and although I generally appreciate this genre of music, I didn't know how much i was going to enjoy it given the fact that I do not speak Finnish.  To my surprise, this made absolutely no difference because they are extremely talented musicians and I could not help dancing the entire time.  after the show me and Tulla went to wait by the T-shirt stand to get a souvenir and meet the band.  I met all of the members and they were very friendly and chill and invited me and Tuula to come sing karioki with them at popular club in Joensuu, club Ilona.  Honestly at the time i was more interested in getting a burger than going to sing Karaoke in a language still unknown to me with a band I had never heard of. However, I ended up giving it a shot and I am very glad that i did because it turned out to be a very fun time! We got to sit in a private room with free drinks and our own private karaoke machine.  Also the room was sound proof so there was no risk of me being heard by anyone besides Tuula and the band!  They sang a number of Finnish songs (I attempted to sing along) and after my struggling efforts they asked me to pick a song in english. At the time I could think of no better song than Phil Collins, "In The Air Tonight" which, all of them knew the words to!   All and all it turned out to be an exceptional valentines day and probably unlike any other that I will ever experience!