All work and no play makes for a dull drama teacher. So Walnut High’s Joanne
Karr decided to go to the Olympics in London after spending a month studying
Chinese film at the University of Illinois.

“A friend of mine was in London, so I decided to join them for the Olympics,”
Karr said. “I love London, I lived there during the Fulbright Teacher Exchange
program in 1997-98.”

During her English odyssey, the drama instructor got to see many of the
improvements made in the East End for the summer games.

“I really liked giant Olympic rings hanging on the Tower Bridge. I got to
watch them raise them a couple times to let ships go through,” Karr said.

The Walnut teacher was surprised how quiet the European capital was. She said
it was just like Los Angeles when it hosted the Olympics in 1984.

“It was really quiet in London compared to the other times I’ve visited. You
could walk right into any sight-seeing attraction. There weren’t any lines,” she
said.

Of course, Karr had to visit the Olympic Village, where she got to see a
couple basketball games.

Read more in Rich Irwin’s story SUMMER.