Board Approval

So, yes, I "met" Wolfowitz on Thursday. What really happened was that I sat in the Board of Directors' conference room at the World Bank and listened to the President and the various country Executive Directors debate a project on Iraq before my team had its chance to present our Grameen project. Overall, it went as smoothly as possible - it's a little difficult to criticize a project that is directly alleviating poverty in one of the world's most impoverished nations, with a company that has a proven track record of success to boot.

Although my more experienced colleagues at the Bank think I am amusing and a little naive for it, I was very excited about the opportunity and was grinning from ear to ear for the entire afternoon. It really was like a plenary session of the UN, with various country representatives interjecting on the pros and cons of the project up for debate, and Wolfowitz supervising the entire process. There were about 20 or 30 executive directors, with some (US, China, France, Japan, UK, Russia etc.) representing one country and others representing groups who contribute less to the Bank's funds. Interestingly enough (at least from a personal point of view), Canada and Ireland are represented by the same delegate. Coincidence? I think not. Of course, most of the information I was privy to at the meeting is confidential, but suffice to say that it was an interesting experience, and we were successful in obtaining approval for our project.

Afterwards to celebrate, Taylor and I went to see Aeon Flux (which we both agreed was a "pretty" movie if somewhat lacking in plot and character development) and then grabbed shisha at the Prince Palace in Georgetown. Apple flavour, in my humble opinion, schools all others.

This has been a good week for another reason - I finally found another apartment, and will be moving in for the New Year. It's still in Georgetown but even closer to my work and very centrally located. This time my room will have space for an actual bed and perhaps even room to move around in and breathe. I'm excited.