It is hard to believe it is Sunday evening.  We have spent seven hours the last two days interviewing the semi-finalists.  What an interesting and exhausting experience it is.  There are 50 semi-finalists being interviewed, all of whom hope they are one of the lucky few chosen to spend a year teaching Arabic at a school in the U.S.  None of them are native speakers of English, and their proficiency varies widely.
I both look forward to, and dread, the final meeting tomorrow in which we have to settle on 10 finalists and 8-9 alternates.

The Egyptian Coptic Christian pope passed away today.  Many people in Egypt, both Christian and Muslim, are very sad.  He was admired by all of them.  We have been advised that we should leave for the airport at least four hours early tomorrow evening for our early morning departure since the cathedral is on the way to the airport where people may go to view his body before services on Tuesday.

I have so much more to share, but it is late and there is one more day of interviews for which I have to prepare.  These posts may have to wait until I return to Missoula.