So I've decided to write a novel. Not because I feel like I really have anything worth all that much to contribute to the literary world of any sort of importance, but because I am becoming so good at dealing with rejection. That way, I'll send off my manuscript, and then when I'm not published I'll be okay with it because I knew from the beginning it wasn't going to happen anyway. In fact, "Rejection Experience" may well become a part of my resumé, as it continues to grow and grow. So yeah, I didn't get the job in Sardinia, based on the fact that I am an American and the Questura told the school director that they didn't plan on issuing any work visas to non-European Passport holders (or at least that's what he told me.) They are unwilling to support illegal workers (understandably) so therefore I'm not the right candidate for the job. Damn. Being from the 'Land of the Free' doesn't mean crap when you're not actually there, obviously, and I'm finding that this little E.U passport holders vs. non-E.U. passport holders thing is becoming more and more of a factor that's considered when people foreigners are applying for jobs here in Italy. Great. When I first read my e-mail of doom (thank God it wasn't over the phone) I had a mini-moment of devastation. My breath thickened and my throat dropped into my stomach. The past two weeks I've pined after this job, yearned for this job, thought that it was exactly where I wanted to be doing exactly what I wanted to do, knowing that it would encourage me to stay in Europe for more than a year. All of that flooded my head, along with curious e-mails from home excitedly awaiting the news. It clicked in that I am homeless, jobless, and am running out of money, fantastiiiic. So then my moment of devastation turned into furiousness, frustration, and due to that I cried for the first time in a looong time. It wasn't very long...crying out of frustration is different than crying out of sadness, but it was enough for me to feel like an idiot. Thankfully I live with cool enough people, who had already agreed to let me sleep on their couch until I found my feet in their new apartment. The thing is, there really wasn't a way for me to plan on being homeless. I'm not going to actively search for an apartment or make a huge deposit if I'm unsure of whether or not I'm even staying in the city, so I played the waiting game for this ideal job, and now that it's fallen through (the day after my TEFL course is officially finished) I have to put myself together and come up with plan B. Well, after Franklin Lamoille Bank, Smugg's Teen Center and Phillipps Andover, I know I'll find a plan B and make the best out of it...I'm just bummed that I have to do it now, it would've been nice to catch a small break in the world of employment. Well, just like Pam advised me, "A horrible thing is just a horrible thing. Whatever you do, you have to move on." Now I am.

So yes, I have successfully become certified to teach English as a second language, woot! I spent the past week building my portfolio, writing essays about certain aspects of the course (student profile and teaching evaluations) and taking methodology and grammar tests. As per my geek nature, I did fairly well in the course, which I'm pleased about...now I'm going to get the chance to find a job and put it to the test. I wanted to flip out at the final luncheon that the school took us to. The food and company were both great, but the damn cameras, holy mother of crap, I might as well have been on the red carpet, except I wasn't, I was in the basement of some restaurant eating food with the same people I normally hang out with and all of a sudden it was picture time with people I've shared maybe 20 minutes worth of conversation time with over the past four weeks. Eventually I lashed out by making faces and using props for my poses, but everyone just said, "Oh Annie, always up to your hijinks." Yep, hijinking the day away, trying to have some food, but I can't seem to find my plate because I've been blinded by 5 million digital cameras going off. Starving and temporarily blind, not a combo I want again. Well, okay, it wasn't really that bad, but close....close.

Tomorrow I will be leaving Cesano forever, and not really a moment too soon. The aroma of horse crap is starting to get to me, as are the trumpets, and the next door neighbors. Let me explain about the neighbors. They moved in at the beginning of this past week, and it was neat being like, "Oh look! Someone to welcome to the neighborhood! HOWDY NEIGHBOR!!" Strange thing number 1: There's unmistakably most definitely a tacky Christmas decoration on their front door, and it's currently October 7th. I don't know if they are using it for other purposes like warding off evil spirits of non-Santa Claus types, or if they're just a little trigger happy on the holiday season. I'll admit it, I use Thanksgiving as my cut off for Christmas music (and many of you would disagree and say earlier, but that's not the point here) but October?!?!? Woah. Cool thing (at first) about my neighbors: They have a piano, and they play, a lot, and the woman is really quite accomplished. I was a little put off by hearing "My Heart Will Go On" wondering if I'll ever escape Titanic and Jack Dawson, but still, being the piano fiend that I am, I was thrilled to think of one being played in the apartment next to mine. She really enjoys scales, almost to the point that I think she's playing them so much to say, "Hey American neighbors, I really know my scales, don't you think?" And thus the reason why our neighbors cool thing has turned into a not-so-cool thing...at ten am on the dot, "BUM, BUM, BUM, BUM, BUM, BUM, BUM, BUM...BUM, BUM, BUM, BUM, BUM, BUM, BUM, BUM." Again and again, over and over, E flat minor, A sharp major, D major, B flat minor, over and over and over, scale after scale after scale. Sigh. So yeah, okay, it was already 10am, time I should be getting out of bed anyway. So I get up, do my laundry, get my bad news of the month, eat French toast, watch a few episodes of Scrubs, watch the Big Chill, watch the extras from the Big Chill, and decide that after such a draining day, mayhaps I'll take a nap. I pad into my room, curl up under my wool horse blankey, close my eyes....and........."BUM, BUM, BUM, BUM, BUM, BUM, BUM, BUM...BUM, BUM, BUM, BUM, BUM, BUM, BUM, BUM." Mother of God. The other thing about our musical friends, is that the woman also fancies herself an opera singer. Now, I definitely am not an opera singer, and never intend to be, maybe because of some of the singing I heard oozing through the walls yesterday when I got home. She had the hardest time hitting this one note that was really not that difficult, she was sharp, she was flat, she'd play the wrong one on the piano, and it got to the point that I almost sang it to her through the wall just so she'd get it and move the hell on....man oh man. Luckily, just before I was about to do that, she gave up and started playing "My Heart Will Go On" so I turned up my iPod and did some reading. Amen.