Awesome day at work!

Today was grrrreat! I was given the annual reports for the Kosovo project from 2005-2009, and I was able to find data for 2010 later in the day when I was working on some GT stuff.  I am producing a database of all the things I need to include in my report (which is a LOT!) and have also been able to compile a bunch of spreadsheets for my Carleton research paper.  I spent most of the day going through the annual reports, and had about 2 hours to work on the GT database I was starting before I had a meeting with Prof. Latifee at 5pm.  He is really supportive and has high hopes for my GT report, and I am really hoping my work meets his expectations.  We talked for just under an hour, and most of that time was spent talking about his experiences in Afghanistan in 1996 when Grameen Trust was invited by UNHCR (UN High Commission for Refugees) to start a project there to help those affected by the war.  Unfortunately this project didn't succeed due to the tight reign and demands of the Taliban, and in June 1996 the Taliban forced them to shut down.  My project for Carleton is comparing and contrasting the successful project in war-torn Kosovo against the failed one in Afghanistan just three years earlier.  I won't bore you with the details of my proposal but I will let anyone who is interested know when it's done in April so you can read it if you want. 

I am meeting a few other interns for dinner in about half an hour, and then I will be in my room working on my proposal and getting ready for our trip to the Tea estates tomorrow morning... we are leaving at 6 am :S I have foregone my afternoon nap, mostly since I was at work until 6, and also so I can get to bed early tonight and be on time for our departure.  I don't know much about the plans so I will let you all know the details when I get back on Saturday night... or maybe Sunday after work depending how tired I am! Regardless, things are rapidly getting under way here and I will have to stay on top of all my research and report development so I can get everything done. 

I was originally planning to come back to Canada around April 10th, but there is a big conference going on at GT starting April 2nd or 3rd, and then the participants will go to the villages and come back to do more discussions. It will be a great place to network with actual microfinance practitioners and entrepreneurs, so if I have to stay a week or two more it probably wouldn't be a bad thing all around.  But, once I know the exact dates of those meetings, I will have to book my flight home as I tend to be more productive with deadlines... I would like to have a draft of my report done in a little over a month so that I can make any changes they want.  In my meeting today we only talked about half of the elements, so once those are well underway I will get another meeting to show Prof. Latifee where I am at and figure out where I am going.  AAAAH! Somehow two months doesn't seem long enough now that I am actually working.  Saturday will be exactly a month since I left Ottawa, and Wednesday will be a month since I arrived.  This city is still crazy, but I am looking forward to all the exciting things coming soon. 

I did finally make contact with my friend's mom at the Canadian High Commission, as well as another general email to the High Commission, both to which I received replies.  I have been invited to the International Women's Day reception at the Canadian Club on March 3rd, so that will be an awesome tie-in.  Hopefully it won't be my first time at the Club, as my colleague's mother will try to get me a membership for my time here and if that works out I will definitely want to go there the last weekend in February, after the wedding the weekend before.  Which is only 6 days away! There is a big dress rehearsal on Valentine's Day (I'm glad I will be busy) and then events get started on Wednesday, lasting until Friday.  Such fun! And only good comments on my Bollywood dancing, please and thanks!

xox Lesley