My real friend

Many of people living with HIV are so afraid to be open about it, even to their true friends. It is not easy to do it but once you have done it you enjoy the freedom as much as anyone who is HIV negative or don’t even know her or his own HIV status.

Let me tell you about this special friend Eliane I have been talking about before my journey to Sweden.
We knew each other from very long time ago before Diabetes and HIV came in my life. There was time we lost track of eachother. Somehow we found each other via social media and I realised she was in Europe. I was not yet open about my HIV. Every time we would talk I would feel like telling her my secret. I knew she was working as a nurse but I doubted to be open. So one day we were having a topic on diabetes and she asked me how I was dealing with it here in Europe. I responded very well and I felt I needed to open up to her regarding my HIV status.
So I told her ”Eliane I am HIV Positive”. She said “No Eliane are you serious? You can not just tell me like this on a whatsapp call?” I asked her why? She said she needed to give me a big hug. She added, Eliane if you take medication you will live healthily. I told her that I take them many years, and that I am living healthily and that only sometimes Diabetes gives me a hard time. She said ”To me you are the same Eliane my best fried and I will always love you. This HIV is just a disease you can control and it is not going to ruin our friendship”.

She showed our real friendship during our visit to her home. She was not ashamed to introduce me and my family to her friends. Every friend of her that we met, most are connected on facebook where she would share her photos and tag my name. Knowing that everyone will check my account and will see all my facebook posts about my HIV positive. This is a real friend. Who loves me as I am, who is not afraid to be seen with someone who is HIV positive. Although in our African community some will immediately judge her and gossip that she also is HIV Positive because she is my friend. Hear me out, my friend Eliane Hallen is not HIV positive. We may share the name but we do not share the virus, the fact is that she is beautiful like me and she is my friend!
Saying goodbye is not a nice thing. But Somehow I need to be back. Holidays can never last for ever. We will miss you Eliane, Roxane, Rian, Johan and all the friends we met. We will miss Vasteras and the vibe! We hope to meet again, this time in Netherlands.
Please come to us soon.
Peace,
Eliane

Living the fairytale

It was quiet impressive visiting my best Friend Eliane at Vasteras.
We travelled from Stockholm by train to Vasteras station. When we arrived I was looking for her in wrong direction.. hahaha I guess I was nervous! Then I heard her voice coming behind my back, when I turned we screamed to eachother saying our names Eliaaaaneeeee! My husband and kids enjoyed watching this small show which lasted about a minute, accompanied by lots of hugs. Then it was time to greet my family and for me to greet her family and we all went to Eliane’s home!
We had a lot to catch up but communication with the rest of my family was a bit difficult. Eliane can speak Swedish, French and Kirundi and her kids could only speak Swedish and few English words. I could speak English, Dutch, Kirundi and French. My husband could speak English, French, Dutch. Somehow I was playing a translator role. Kids are amazing because few days later they were communicating without translation. Eliane could speak French to me and my husband which was very easy for the 2 days Michel was there. After it was Kirundi and Swedish and Dutch talk hahah!

We visited nice places like Airplane museum, Water park Kokpunkten, an impressive water paradise for kids where they have a lot of water activities for kids and for adults you have a relax place that includes sauna, steam water, and relax pool. It was nice since it was raining, finally. We visited many more nice places in Vasteras such as the Dom cathedral which has very beautiful scriptures of Jesus and well-designed chairs. Eliane has many friends like I do. We went to visit a couple on the countryside outside of Vasteras, her so called Swedish parents. Very lovely people and the place reminded me and Michel of our House in South Africa.

Cinderella Cruise ship.
I always wished to be on a cruise ship and sleep on it and just go as far away as possible. Never say never because this dream came true at least! I was able to experience life on cruise ship Cinderella with my boys. How was our trip from Vasteras to Stockholm where we board to Viking Line Cinderella?
Friday afternoon a very luxurious bus came to fetch us from station Vasteras and brought us to Stockholm bay where we went on-board. Back when were still in Stockholm I saw this very big boat Cinderella quite often and told my husband that this boat is always in the water, like it never goes away. He said ‘Maybe they have many with the same name”. So when this time we go on-board I saw that it was Cinderella. I was so happy that She was taking us to Finland! 
On-board is the same routine like Airplane. Show our passports and tickets to the officer, our luggage’s to the belt which goes through the scan. Akira was so nervous he wanted to take everything out while searching his Nintendo. Till they told him that is not necessary. It all went well.
By the entrance of the Cinderella there is a photographer to make the most memorable picture to take home with! Cinderella is a huge ship with 12 floors and more than 1,000 rooms. We were staying on the 6th Floor in room 6033. On the same floor there was a Spa for when you wanted to relax. On floor 7 there was lots of shopping and Restaurants. Floor 8 had a Casino, children playground,  game room, Cinema and many other activities. I loved the Captain’s floor, this was on the 12th Floor where you can view the water and the surroundings. When we got in our room, the beds were made but you needed to push a button to bring them down. The cabin had a small clean toilet and shower. Everyone was very excited to sleep in a boat. We had never done it before and felt weird to move around all night. Unlike on a plane where you are stuck to your seat. The boys moved all over the ship and visited basically every floor.

We made a reservation for diner at 20h30 because we thought we will first make up our bed and then prepare for diner. But it was all done for us. So we had plenty of time before diner to look around and discover Cinderella.  When entering in restaurant we had a table by a window with a view, just like our bedroom. The food was very good with many choices, only we have to stand in a long queue. I had to take my medication a bit late since I first needed food in my stomach. It feels weird to be in a Buffet restaurant on boat! After diner the boys were running everywhere and I went with Eliane and her youngest Son Rian to a disco for parents and kids. It was an entertainment because we danced to live music.
Unfortunately at 23h the kids had to get out because that is the time for real adult disco. You know it is the time when the security guard enters and every parent and kids get out with no words! Then we had another place, Harmony restaurant, where parents and kids can do karaoke. Some kids have got really talents! They sing very nice. Akira was doing the amazing moves I was very proud to see him inspiring some others kids and Rian as well! 
At 1.00 night it was the end of the party so everybody gets out again for a Dj to start disco for adults! We went to our room.

Troubles
In many places the information is written in Swedish, and you have to search careful to find English. Eliane did show me how to open my bed to get it down. I did not need to read any sign warning in Swedish. When we came back to sleep everyone is very tired, we wanted to rest for the next day, so I pulled down the boys bed, but I forgot my small suitcase was under the sofa which will change into my sleeping bed. Once I pulled down the bed, it was stuck. I did not get it down nicely and it did not feel comfortable. I could not sleep on it. When I checked why, yeah I saw the suitcase. Immediately I read the warning sign “Please do not put any object under the bed it will block the bed”. First it was clearly written in Swedish then under a small letter in English! I told the boys “Too late I have already made the mistake”. Akira wanted to cry, so I said “hey boys, let’s work together like a team. Who is the captain? Akira you are the CAPTAIN”. Two of us pulled up the bed and another pulled the bed. We tried around 20min. Somehow I called Eliane her phone was with no network. She was on 9th floor but I did not remember her room number. So I gave up and took few min of rest. After we decided to give it a try again. This time we succeed. We finally slept around 1:30. I was very nervous as I did not want to miss the arrival at Finland. I woke up a few time to go to toilet. Somehow I fell asleep early morning and I realized we were already in Finland and KPN did not miss the opportunity to warn me that I finally reached Finland with an sms around 2.49 in de morning. Akira saw Finland in the night since he was sleeping close to the window and he woke me up at around 3.00 to show the lights at houses. In the morning I took some picture since we were not allowed to get out of the ship.
At 8h morning the ship left Finland again, back to Stockholm. Rio and Akira went to the game room and played till our brunch time. We did have fun and this experience on the Cinderella ship will never be forgotten. Eat, play, dance, sleep on a boat and see a new country at the same time! What a great experience!
We are now preparing to come back to Netherland next week Tuesday.
Are you ready to give us a hug?
Peace ,
Eliane

Fun Stockholm

I can not tell it all! We have been at so many places in Stockholm, they are all beautiful and each of them have an impressive history.
On Wednesday we went to Vasa Museum. It’s a huge royal boat build in 1628 which first set sail on 10 August 1628 and sank on her maiden voyage in Stockholm harbour. It was found again after 333 years on the seabed in 1961. It was pieced together and now is restored with 98 percent of original materials. It is so beautifully decorated with hundreds of carved sculptures.
We continued our journey and visited the Nordic Museum and from there did a tour around the whole city with ‘hop on hop off’ buses and boats. We finished the day at Grona Lund, a sort of children playground where our boys had lots of fun, including in the aquarium with a ‘World of Frogs’. Thursday we visited the Nobel museum, the royal armory and the Incredible big Skyview ‘ Ball’. All the way to the top.
As I always like to learn new cultural of every country I visit, I did not leave Stockholm without learning the culture. So the last day in Stockholm we visited Skansen. Skansen is the oldest open-air museum in the World and showcases Sweden through its animals, buildings, farms and zoo with Nordic animals, and a lot of domestics animals still to be seen among the many buildings and farms at Skansen.
As last week I visited the Zuiderzee Museum, I was expecting to see the same set up of the buildings and everything around it. But it was totally different. First we started with another Aquarium, where we saw some animals, from there we entered a school which is 108 years old. The life was not easy that time as children needed to go to school one day and the next day they would then go to help their parents on the farm. There was one teacher at that school for more than 50 children between 7 and 13 years old. While I was sitting in those chairs which are so old, I kind of remembered my memory of my Primary school time. We visited many farm houses in the park, all made with wooden planks. They are very tiny inside but well organized. When we went out to a small square in a farmstead I saw a beautiful lady Stella, she was having small pieces of wood and old rags. She invited me to make a doll out of those materials. This was something I was good at when I was young. My Son Akira started making one but did not have a clue how to pull this together. He made a face on the piece of wood and I helped him to make an outfit for the doll. It was like I was traveling back in time when we used to use banana flowers or corn to make dolls and tie them to our backs like mothers did with us as babies! Showing Akira this piece of my youth experience made me proud! We went down from the hill on which Skansen is built with a cable -cart, carrying our wooden dolls with us. These are nice souvenirs from Skansen . I am glad we visited it !
Now ready for our next destination Vasteras.
Peace ,
Eliane.

Discover New World

After a busy weeks with International AIDS Conference in Amsterdam I finally get a moment to take a holidays with my beloved ones.

We started yesterday by visiting Zuiderzee museum in Enkhuizen where we learnt about the way the Dutch lived alongside the rough sea.
For example, the life of fishermen now many years ago, how they washed the cloths and how they dressed up which is totally different from nowadays. It was an amazing trip  and I enjoying learning the culture of every country I visit. Well I am living here for 11 years now and I am still learning until today.

The sky is the limit. I have always dreamed of seeing the World, visiting many countries. I am glad this is going the way I want it to be. This dream I am sharing with my beloved family. A few months ago I discovered Asia with my husband. Now, together with the boys, we are going to be in another new country, Sweden! We are very excited because it is going to happen today!
We have everything ready, our tickets for the Arlanda express, the Stockholm Pass. We are ready to learn yet again a new culture. Visiting muses, going on boat, many kids activities. The Stockholm pass will give many opportunities and we are going to take them all!

After a week, It will be the time to move to another city, Vasteras. I remember 2 years ago talking with my best childhood friend, Eliane, that one day I will pay her a visit. We would talk so much, bring back the many sweet memories of our childhood. We have been talking for a very long time on skype or WhatsApp by saying that we meet soon! That soon will start TODAY.
It will be great to finally meet Eliane in person again, after many long years ago. 1996! Now, can you imagine what will happen when we meet?
Make sure you protect your ears, because we will make a lot of noise. I will never stop dreaming.
Get ready Stockholm, I am on my way!
Peace,
Eliane