An offer I can't refuse?

What I thought was going to be a slow week has actually been pleasantly busy. I sent out a LOT of resumes and, fortunately, got two interesting and positive interviews this week (and one rejection via TEXT MESSAGE). One was at a center for movie subtitling, where I would be translating from Italian to English. I would get to watch movies and learn all sorts of new Italian and work part-time. Plus it is super close to my house! The woman I interviewed with did not seem concerned about my lack of work papers, and she complimented me on my Italian. The job is on a need-only-basis, so it would mean a paycheck only when there were movies to translated, but they seem quite busy and they have done some big films (Devil Wears Prada, DaVinci Code, and so on).

The second interview was at the American Embassy, to be a cashier at the Commissary, which is this mini-American supermarket/gift-shop open only to the staff at the Embassy (and those who work there!!). There are many things that are impossible to find elsewhere in Italy, and they are at huge discounts. This too would be part-time work, but with the possibility of more hours in the future, and also the embassy is known for hiring from within when positions open up. I was told I would be a really good fit there but that he was obligated to interview more people of course. But that was a positive sign in my opinion. So cross your fingers!!

I also was offered some work from the cosmetic company whose website I translated. They need a mother-tongue English speaker to first research beauty centers and distributors in England and create a database, and then in a month or 2, when the products have been repackaged and rebranded, begin contacting these centers to set up sales interviews with the creator. It is something I could do in my spare time. Either way, I was given a huge supply of the all-natural products to try out (in the interest of becoming a believer and being a better eventual sales-person); my stockpile is probably worth $200 or so, and they are actually really cool!

It is becoming more and more clear to me that I would like to own my own business, so I believe it to be wise to spread myself around and try lots of different things and work in more than one place, so all this part-time work could work out really well. KFC, put your thinking cap on...

If there is anywhere where it is true that what is important is not what you know but rather WHO you know, it's here; so thank you Tina for passing my name along to Rosanna at the movie place, and to Flavio for putting in a good word for me at the Embassy!

In between interviews, I am continuing my sightseeing and cooking and my cv-submitting - please say a prayer for me that I don't have to take the hotel house-keeping job I applied for yesterday. Ew.