my job :-)

As a person who loves to learn, I was always impressed when I heard someone was a Research Fellow. It was almost as if they had acheived a status in life when they didn't have to "work" for a living, but could spend their day "googling" to their hearts content about subjects the rest of us only dreamed of getting the chance to learn about. While it wasn't on my top 5 jobs to have (honestly I never thought I would be qualified for such a job since my writing skills are not the best), I was very excited when the opportunity came up to work with the Economic and Business History Research Centre at the American University in Cairo.

My job is very much like writing a term/research paper. Only the deadlines are more flexible, and the topic can evolve more so than for an assignment that you have to stick to the outline you turn in the first week of the class and four months later realize the subject is a dead end. Currently I am researching the first microfinance NGO that was completely funded by Egyptian finances and volunteers: Fathet Kheir. As well as looking into social entrepreneurship here in Egypt, microfinance as a whole, and other NGOS. The first few weeks were slow as I learned more about my topic, but now I getting into normal routine and realizing research has its slow and busy times just like any other job. Overall...so far...I am enjoying my job!

Tomorrow is another holiday :-)! Yipee! A three day weekend! Some friends and I are going to take advantage of the beautiful weather and the long weekend and head to the Red Sea tonight. I will be taking my second scuba diving course to get my advanced open water certification with PADI! This means by the end of the weekend I will be able to dive up to 100 ft/30 m! Will take pictures to post soon!