It's not who is in the game, it's just about having a seat at the game!

I'm not sure if all of our followers understand how difficult it is to get tickets here at the Olympics. Apparently, the Olympics used to be this great 2nd hand ticket market, but those days are past. There are no scalpers. There are no available tickets online. I spent over 30 hours last week (whilst doing other things) watching the Olympics timer tick away, and only managed to get beach volleyball tickets. Our friend Adam spent every night for almost a week staying up until 2 a.m., and got here with none. My awesome Dad is still checking for me every day.

So that's why, when we were in the Chase Visa VIP lounge last night, and someone mentioned that there were LOADS of tickets on a website, we all laughed good-naturedly and agreed to take a quick look. Somehow, in a few minutes, we got volleyball tickets for this morning and tomorrow night. We were so excited, we immediately rushed to the office, and didn't care that our tickets were actually not together, and that the USA wasn't even playing in the game. That's how big a deal getting the tickets were.

We arrived today, repressed from lack of tickets, 300% American, even though the Americans weren't in the match. I wore my cowboy hat with a red, white, and blue hair extension peeping out, we all had American flag game faces on, and our exuberance was palpable.

I can't even describe how amazing the atmosphere is at the Olympics. There is this incredible sense of international camaraderie. We're always offering to take photos for people. Everyone has a smile on their face. Everyone greets each other. Today in Starbucks (USA! USA! USA!), we met a German who just told us he was going to follow us to the game, and we had him as a tagalong (and photographer) for 45 minutes. You ask everyone where they're from. If you've ever wanted to go to an Olympics, do it. Go into debt, sell your car, do whatever you have to do, because they're THAT amazing!

So, the game today. We arrive at volleyball to find that, due to the fact that all of the events are half empty, even though our tickets were in three locations, we were able to sit together and never move. We also decided to go with "breakfast beer" AKA cider, for our 9:30 a.m. drink of choice. They went down so smoothly, we had 6. Too bad there wasn't a medal for that.

Our first match was Poland vs Australia. I chose to cheer for Poland. I love Poland, and not just because I sometimes want to mouth kiss my Polish cleaning ladies because they're so amazing. We cheered "Polska, Polska, Polska" just as much as we would have done for the USA. They didn't win, but the fans for those countries were great. Then Russia played Serbia. Of course, we cheered for the little guy. Poor Serbia lost. Pretty badly. The crowd was pretty quiet during that game, except when they had these crazy breaks where people banged on a bongo drum. I'm going to video it tomorrow so everyone can see how awesome bongo time is.

Awesome Poland fan.

Americans in the Olympic house. Yes, those are loads of empty seats behind them. :(

Team Poland

My Olympic volleyball moment

Lara, enjoying a breakfast beer.

Erin, the only one enjoying real beer.

Adam kicking it with the ladies.

"This is a moment" ---Adam Swart

I wish this photo were better, but I'd like to call your attention to the blown up kangaroo. With the neck-kerchief on.

The Americans were here.

America.

It's always OK to do a Usain Bolt, particularly when you're in Bolton Gardens.

A kiss for the birthday girl. Her blinking light said to kiss her, Lauren doesn't just kiss us all the time!

I told my mom today that Lara and I were making special memories together, and Mom said "Oh, no, what's wrong?" Because she thought I was messing with her. But I'm serious. I'm not sure we've ever had such fun together. And we've had a lot of fun together....