ENTROPY: "The tendency for all matter and energy in the universe to evolve toward a state of inert uniformity."

Alright, well I'm not really going for uniformity in my life per say, but I am convinced that this word somehow still applies to what has begun happening to me lately.

Things with Jack have been resolved for the time being (!!!).  He is staying at an aunty's house not far from where I live, she is a good friend and she and her kids are really looking out for him.  We have both discussed how it doesn't have to be permanent so I feel relieved knowing that when I find my new place and have a shamba, I can bring him if I choose to.  Yipeeeeee!  I feel so grateful for that issue calming down.  Since she took him, I have been really able to devote my brainpower to being proactive about MY life (instead of his and my neighbors' lives and everyone else's life but my own).

After spending so much time on the internet yesterday that my eyeballs went cross-eyed, I learned that all of the standard jobs in Kenya exist in Nairobi- I had another stroke of luck (or three).  I met with a friend who happens to be incredibly well connected here in Mombasa.  She was curious about my situation and I shared everything about my current status, my hopes, my interests etc. and right in the middle of dinner she called a friend who is from the place I'm thinking of relocating to and we have already met with him today!

Turns out he is also insanely well connected and 100% interested in helping me figure things out.  While I was waiting for this guy and Aminah this morning, I accidentally starting talking to a different guy who was at table thinking that he was the person I was meeting.  Now, this guy ended up being super kind and we know a few mutual friends.  Of all things, he works with a guy who owns a huge shamba up the coast but is often out of the country and may need someone to take care of it.  When Aminah and the contact showed up, they all knew each other!  Ha.  I love this town so much.

So I have no way of knowing if any of these prospects will really materialize.  I've lived in African countries long enough to know not to get my hopes way up at this point, but my hopes are telling me to quit being so rational and get a little excited anyway.  Jinxing be damned!

On another more somber note- even when things are going fabulous and I couldn't be happier to be here, I think of my family constantly and how much I miss them.  We are all busy and don't connect much aside from my parents.  My grandmother (whom I am really really close with) is in the hospital.  My sister is happily attached at the hip with a guy I don't really know well yet (I'm thrilled for them both), I haven't talked to my cousins whom I am also close with and miss so much it hurts- in ages.  Sometimes I get these annoying pangs of guilt for choosing to be so far away.  To be fair, people always say "home is where the heart is".  Even though I miss my family back in the U.S. and I'm missing many events and hugs, I can't deny that at this time, my heart is fully here.  Let's just hope the immigration office in Nairobi can understand that too, without expecting me to fork over loads of money.