Three Weeks in Tropical Paradise

Oh, how gullible I was when I believed back in November that I would be on vacation in Brasil for three weeks with my boyfriend. What a sweet illusion...I thought I'd go to the beach with friends, do some antique hunting in Lapa, catch up on e-mails, read a good book in the hammock on the varanda, and consume as much meat, pão de queijo, and fresh fruit juice as humanly possible. Right.

Instead, the past three weeks have consisted of the following:

1. Working on a timber proposal for a pissy client back in Maputo who doesn't understand that putting together a $15 million dollar business plan isn't something that can be done overnight;
2. Stressing about the fact that I was too busy to work on the timber proposal from day one, and that when I did have time to work I procrastinated;
3. Meeting the family. This consisted of an early Christmas dinner with Rico's dad, stepmom, and stepsister; meeting his mom and grandma when I was doped up on drowsy cold medicine; meeting his uncle Alfredo and his daughters; another Christmas dinner, this time on the 24th, at Rico's aunt Claudia's house with her boyfriend and daughter; spending that night at a gas station with Rico's uncle Marcelo, his wife, and their kids; meeting his other grandma for a snack at her house...You get the picture. It's been nonstop family schmoozing since we arrived. And I must say, for all the bad press that in-laws get, I really, really like Rico's family and I feel they genuinely like me as well. Word has it that everyone is talking about marriage...
4. Helping Rico's mom move into a new apartment. Moving is a pain in the ass under any circumstances, but Emilia chose to move during the week of Christmas when everything is closing for the holidays and the heat is unbearable. We worked our tails off - especially Rico, who has been solving problems for his mom and grandma right and left - and Emilia (his mom) and Maria Antonia (his grandma) now have a sweet apartment with a huge varanda that overlooks a nice plaza.
5. Taking care of the Casa Rosa and everything that a huge house built in 1910 needs in terms of repairs, furniture, and security. This has included buying tons of furniture, lamps, and paintings (the fun part), making sure the alarm works properly and all the sensors are in place, calling the exterminator to spray for rats and termites, buying assorted construction materials, getting estimates for fixing leaks, patching up holes and cracks in the wall, making our pool/fountain enjoyable again, and fixing all the 12-foot tall wooden doors and windows that don't close or are permanently swollen shut. I must say, Rico has been an unbelievable help in all this. Having a carioca boyfriend with a car and good connections in the city is such a blessing, and has made my stress level at least half of what it used to be with regard to the Casa Rosa. The good news is that we got a lot accomplished and the house is looking amazing.
6. Conducting an intervention with the woman that takes care of our house and is like a member of the family for us. Yes, intervention, as in serious problems that can only be resolved with intensive outpatient therapy. Feeling incredibly humbled by the situation realizing that if we hadn't intervened this person would probably be dead within a few months. Her situation is so, so sad...I plan on writing a lot more about this whole experience later, but it has made me grateful for all that I have in terms of health, education, money, compassion, understanding, family...
7. Trying to visit with friends, enjoy our new cable tv, write e-mails, and rest inbetween all my other responsibilities above.

Needless to say, I am tired and need a VACATION!

Of course, this whole saga wouldn't be complete without the cherry on the sundae. Yesterday, while trying to clear up some space on my overloaded hard drive, I deleted an Outlook directory that I swore I would never need. Back in July, when Ricardo spent a month in Brasil, I was left to handle all of Agrolink's pending business. In order to manage everything, I needed access to some of Ricardo's e-mails that had client info or important attachments for follow-up.

Gemelli, one of my housemates and the company's IT guy, copied Rico's entire e-mail database onto my computer instead of just the directory I needed for the month's business. All of his messages were in Outlook, and I had never used the program. So Gemelli configured my Outlook, imported Rico's files, and got me all set up to work not knowing that I had access to much more that I was supposed to.

Being the good girlfriend that I am, I deleted all of the e-mails from my inbox except the ones in the file I needed. July came and went, and I finished up everything that had been left in my hands. But I couldn't shake the temptation to snoop through Ricardo's e-mails, knowing that while they had been deleted from my inbox, they were still alive and well in the directory, hidden in the bowels of my laptop.

Many times in the following months I sat with the data base icon in front of me, feeling like a modern-day Pandora tempted by an inbox, using all my strength not to double click and read through God knows what from Rico's past. Every time I was able to resist, but I'd always leave the Outlook icon where Gemelli had copied it, Rico's messages deleted from my e-mail but accessible should I ever want to realize my urge. In the meantime, I decided that I like the convenience of Outlook and started using it myself instead of web mail. I downloaded all my e-mails and haven't looked back since.

Yesterday, faced with a nearly-full hard drive and lots of files to download, I decided to clean out my computer. It was like a virtual spring cleaning. Click-happy, I set out to delete things I hadn't used in over two years, photos from the past that had already been backed up, music I don't really like or listen to but insisted on keeping in my iTunes...and the famous Outlook data base with all Ricardo's e-mails.

I want to do the right thing, I decided, and deleted the file. Just in case, I immediately emptied my recycle bin to make sure I wouldn't have a last-minute snoop. The virtual trash can on my desktop became skinny once again and I felt good. Satisfied. Proud of the tough decision I'd made to resist private thoughts and documents and maintain the integrity of my relationship.

Then this morning I went to check e-mail. An error message popped up informing me that Outlook could not find the directory where Rico's e-mails had been stored. Okay, I thought, no big deal. My e-mails are stored in another place in my laptop. But the dialog box was insistent. Outlook wouldn't open. I became more and more frantic as I realized what had happened.

Somehow, after Gemelli's initial configuration of Outlook, my e-mails became associated with the original Outlook.pst that contained Rico's e-mails. Thinking I was doing the right thing and deleting my hidden copy of my boyfriend's messages, I actually deleted ALL THE MESSAGES IN MY OUTLOOK!!!! Everything is gone. Adios. Such is the hard luck of the semi-computer illiterate. And, perhaps, the just payback for a girlfriend that saved prohibited e-mails should the day come when she wanted some sweet revenge.

Sigh. At least I have copies of everything on Yahoo web mail, but this entails configuring everything all over again and downloading over 90 megabytes of information. Please keep in mind that I live in the third world and rely on a dial-up connection that is precarious at best.

After I cried and confessed to Rico what was going on, I was able to see the humour in the whole situation. I even managed to laugh. I can only hope that my good mood lasts through the 4 days it will certainly take to download all my emails and reorganize my folders in Outlook.

Did I mention I need I vacation?