Uh, we got to watch the Men's Team Final

It was crazy. Yesterday, we got a sketchy call from this Russian guy who spoke Chinese and English while in a taxi on our way to a shopping district. He said we had contacted him on craigslist (we've tried to contact about 30 people) and only had one ticket, but would sell for 150$. Which, if you've been following ticket prices, is an awesome price. We jumped on the offer, turned the cab driver around, and headed to meet him in the embassy area of China. The transaction went about as smoothly as possible and he was pretty cool.

Still, we only had one ticket to the final, and needed 2 more. We did a bunch of shopping that day and bargaining ("more on that later," to use Balazovich's phrase) but night quickly crept up on us. We couldn't find any more offers online, so decided that our best bet was to head to the Olympic subway stop and look for scalpers.

It seemed hopeless at first, and we got one offer for 300$. Within 20 minutes though of just asking through the crowds and holding up a sign, all of a sudden we had one in our hands for 60$, then another for the same price! So together, the average price of the 3 tickets was under 100$! Considering previous offers of over 350$ per ticket, we were extremely proud of ourselves. Having pieced together 3 tickets, we headed into the venue where we ran into Alyssa and Lai Har, our Singaporian friends.

The meet really couldn't have gone much better. There were enough open seats that we could easily sit together. We saw some awesome gymnastics (Arabian Double pike half out, yurchenko 1/2 on randi, Yibing's rings set, Cassina, etc....) and the USA had a great meet for the most part, pulling out the bronze (our alternates really stepped up and delivered- Sasha especially, last set of the meet, his only competitive event, a history of being a headcase, then delivering like he did was awesome).

We've met a husband and wife who are taking their family to the games (their son is in gymnastics) who have been extremely nice and helpful. We think they are going to be able to get us all around final tickets for the men and the fx/ph/vt final on the 17th! (and not rip us off, since they understand what's it's like to be a college student). Sweeeeet.

Just posting one pic for now (as proof):