First Time Voting in Israel for Mayor and City Council!

           On Tuesday, Oct 30th 2018 was the National Election Day in Israel which we got to take part in for the first time. It is a paid vacation day for the entire workforce in Israel(with the exception of services to the public), so that everyone can go out and vote for their choice of Mayor and City Council. Kids also have the day off of school. It was neat to be able to vote as Isreali citizens for the first time. You get voters cards mailed to you, which tell you the location of where you are supposed to vote. For some reason, we never received our cards, so I had to do some research and in the end I found out online where we were supposed to go. The morning of the big day, after filling the family with blueberry pancakes, we all headed out to the voting station at around 9:30am. The way it works with a lot of places in Israel, is once you get to where the GPS guides you, the next step is to find parking that hopefully isn't to far away from the actual location you are supposed to be at. We thankfully found a decent parking spot and luckily there was a woman who was walking around near the voting area who was very helpful and showed us exactly where we needed to be, and how to to do the voting. We went in and there was only one person ahead of us (so for future reference, morning time is the best time to go if you want to avoid long lines), and only had to wait a few minutes. When it was our turn it didn't take long at all and before we knew it we were all heading back to our car very thankful for the pain free voting experience. All you have to do is show the people your teudat zehut (Israeli ID card) and then they give you your voting envelopes(one yellow and one white). Next, you need to go over to this table and they have the names of the candidates already cut out for you, so you just need to take the name and put it in the envelope and close it, and you are free to go. I also read that you have to make sure your envelope is free of any writing or marks or it invalidates them(which I think is silly, not sure why that matters and is an easy way for people to get away with screwing with envelopes on purpose).

I was so grateful for the painless voting experience and felt like we were real Israeli's. Some things I'm not particularly fond of is, prior to the voting day people throw flyers of who to vote for all around the city to the point of ridiculousness which you can see from the photos. They also go around with huge megaphones in their cars(which is extremely loud and obnoxious) announcing who they want you to vote for. It's tolerable during certain hours of the day, but at night time when you are waking up sleeping kids, it's even more obnoxious and really inconsiderate. Not to mention it's ineffective. Most of the time, I don't even understand what they are saying.

It was a close race and the winner ended up being Aliza Bloch. She is not only the first female mayor elected, but she was not predicted to win over the ultra Orthodox former Mayor, Moshe Abutbul.  There were crowds celebrating by singing and dancing which I loved seeing the videos of. There is a whole history of course of the politics and corruption with the former mayor of Beit Shemesh. In the previous election back in 2013,  there were eight people who were charged with voting fraud. Some of the ongoing issues that really bothered me that were never addressed under the Mayor Moshe Abutbul are, intermittent violence across Beit Shemesh(Particulary in Ramat Beit Shemesh B area), high youth graffiti and vandalism, garbage not being collected resulted in filthy streets and glass everywhere. I think the thing he didn't follow through on that I find most frustrating is, in 2017 there was millions of shekels allocated to install security cameras which he signed for in order to be able to catch people who are doing acts of violence of vandalism and he deliberately failed to follow through. In 2018 he said publicly that there was no reason for not installing the security cameras and yet nothing was done that whole time. Security cameras are desperately needed with all the frequent crazy situations going on in certain parts of Beit Shemesh. There have been instances where a radical charedi man went on  "modesty patrols," and was hitting women with a pipe and telling them to go home because they weren't dressed modestly enough in his eyes. There are "modesty signs" instructing woman to dress appropriately or not walk on a certain side of the street posted in areas which are frequented by radical chareidi men. Modesty signs and graffiti have been a continual issue in Beit Shemesh and often led to violent protests anytime officials try to remove them. The spokesman for the Beit Shemesh municipality said they have spent more than 50,000 shekels trying to remove the constant signs and graffiti. Luckily the part of Beit Shemesh we live in isn't the area where they put all the signs up, but people still want Beit Shemesh as a whole to be a place where everyone is welcome and do not have to be afraid being badgered while living here.

I'm guessing people just got fed up because even a lot of the Charedi had voted for Aliza Bloch. 

Here is some victory pictures people were passing around on social media:

You can see Aliza Bloch's full victory speech on the link: https://www.kikar.co.il/295358.html
For those who don't know Hebrew she said: “The people of Israel look at the city of Beit Shemesh and wake up to a new hope. Beit Shemesh decided to cancel the walls and partitions," she said, adding, “Today we have proven to ourselves and to Israeli society that we respect each other and do not create gaps." "As mayor of Beit Shemesh, I intend to engage in finding the good and the common, and together we will become a model for Israeli society, each of whom will live his life in his own way with respect for the other," Bloch declared."(https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/254089)

Despite Beit Shemesh being unfortunately associated to some people with crazy, hateful intolerant people, the cities population is growing like crazy. The Prime Minister Netanyahu said, "I see this city as becoming of the the largest cities in Israel. It's developing at a very fast rate, and it is home to haredi, secular, traditional, Ashkenazic, Sephardic Jews, as well as to new immigrants. It's the first city in which they are actively integrating the general population and the haredi population(israelnationalnews). I know people who are more open to the idea of living in Beit Shemesh now that Aliza is mayor. Thankfully the community we landed in Beit Shemesh is a really wonderful community. It's diverse and filled with kind, generous, good people who are a kiddush Hashem in my opinion. The growth of Beit Shemesh is evident, I've never seen so many cranes and on going construction in my life which is a great thing to see because it means more and more people are making aliyah. I  can't wait to see what the future will look like with Aliza as mayor and am so excited to have been part of making positive changes in the beautiful country Hashem gave us.

History of Beit Shemesh articles under  previous Mayor:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1sRyB1d86vdkI1AfFh6P-lLJblBsgFw35dYNIMjFIYd4/edit
http://washingtonjewishweek.com/7137/beith-shemesh-mayors-bigotry/editorial-opinion/editorial/
https://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Senior-Beit-Shemesh-council-member-nine-others-booked-in-corruption-sting-553604
https://www.theyeshivaworld.com/news/israel-news/1318645/familys-modesty-standard-leads-vandalism-attack.html
https://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Court-to-Beit-Shemesh-Pull-down-those-modesty-signs-496171
https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4451390,00.html
https://www.theyeshivaworld.com/news/israel-news/1464642/shocking-video-religious-girls-attacked-by-young-men-while-walking-through-meah-shearim.html
https://www.haaretz.com/.premium-haredi-men-throw-rocks-at-immodest-woman-and-her-baby-in-beit-shemesh-1.5183372
https://www.timesofisrael.com/threatened-with-death-curse-women-fighting-beit-shemesh-modesty-signs-uncowed/
https://www.timesofisrael.com/eight-indicted-for-beit-shemesh-voting-fraud/
https://www.jpost.com/Magazine/Creating-something-special-in-Beit-Shemesh-571997
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/227678

First experience staying in a hospital in Israel - Ein Kerem Hospital (Jerusalem)

During one of my routine trips to the OB, I discovered that I had to unfortunately go the hospital and be admitted for a few days due to being at risk for preterm labor. I have a short cervix and it was shorter than is comfortable and so they wanted me admitted to monitor me in case I go into labor, which is not good because I am only 24 weeks pregnant. When I was told by the nurse during my appointment that I would probably need to go to the hospital, tears just burst through my eyes. The Ultrasound tech there was really nice, and ended up calling my husband later that day to see if I was okay. In general, your cervix should not be shorter than 25 mm and the day I went to the hospital it was at 19mm and when they measured me again later that same day, it was at 13mm which is scary for it to shorten that much in one day. The timing was of course was "perfect" timing because my husband had just started a new job last week, and now is already having to take time out of work to bring me to the hospital. Thank G-d his job was supportive and understanding and my husband was still able to get what he needed done in a timely manner, along with having to take care of the kids and everything else while I was gone.

One of our concerns going to the hospital was finding where I was supposed to be since they didn't know for sure, but luckily it didn't take us long to find the place I was supposed to check in. However it was a challenge just to get into the hospital. There is one elevator (that we know of anyway) to get into the hospital and it doesn't work very well. There was big line for people to get into the elevator, my husband wanted me to get in, but he would not fit with our wheel chair and stuff so he took it up the stairs otherwise we would be waiting forever just to get into the hospital. Stephan made sure I got checked in and had packed me some survival food and entertainment necessities. After I was being cared for by the nurses, I told him he could go even though I hated to be left alone, but he had just started a new job which took him five months to find, and so there wasn't even any time he could really take off, and we didn't want to risk losing his job over this. We also have kids and I find it easier to deal with things, when I know my kids are being taken care of and that they still have stability. So off he went.

The first nurses that were taking care of me were nice and did a good job. You could tell they were constantly busy doing stuff and trying their hardest to be on top of things. The wait for me to see the ultra sound tech and the doctor wasn't to bad either. After I saw the doctor, they put an IV in me and a steroid shot to help the babies lungs develop, and then told me where I would be staying. I was told to go to the maternity ward on the sixth floor.

Here is a picture of what the room looked like:

The next couple of hours was just getting set up in my room, and hanging out with my entertainment supplies. I was on whatsapp a lot since a lot of people were kind enough to send their concerns, and were wanting updates. I was appreciate because anything to keep my mind busy from worry or negativity was good. I had my laptop also which I was on so I read a lot, and organized our pictures on flickr.  The nurses on the 6th floor were nice too. I asked about meals, and the nurse told me the dining room was on this floor and pointed in the direction it was. Apparently, you just go there yourself and there is a buffet of food there for you to pick, which was nice for hospital food. The food was pretty good too, depending on what they were serving that day. It's still hospital food nonetheless, but  feel like they give better and more healthy options than in the states, where you basically have a few options, and they are all not so impressive or that healthy. Here are the pics of what breakfast, lunch and dinner looked like:

Breakfast:

Lunch:

Dinner:

Dining room:

The hardest part about being in the hospital was not being able to get a good night's rest. It is impossible being in the maternity ward and getting a roommate brought to you in the middle of the night. The combination of crying babies. beeping machines and roommate snoring, forget about it! Also not to sound like a diva or something, but the beds are not as comfortable,  and the pillow is like sleeping on hard play dough or something. Also the room temperature is to warm (i need it to be cold for me to sleep well). I literally got maybe 30 minutes - 1 hr of interrupted sleep my first night there. I thought, sleep deprivation and stress cannot be good for me or the baby. I told a friend what was going on and she recommended I ask to be moved to the 7th floor. She delivered there and she said it's much quieter and it's new. So for the second night I asked my doctor if I could leave early because I couldn't sleep and he said maybe after two days. I talked to one of the nurses and asked to be moved because I couldn't sleep, and she called the 7th floor for me and luckily their was a bed available for me, and they said I was okay to move! So I happily packed all my things and made my way to the seventh floor. My friend was right, the rooms were much nicer and not as warm. The nurses were nice too. Here are some pics of the room:

I started off with a roommate, who was very nice, we chatted for a bit and she told me that her baby is big so she has to decide if she wants a C-section, but there are risks to doing it vaginally and she wanted to go home to figure out her decision with her husband, which the doctor let her go home to do that. Which meant I had the room to myself which I was really looking forward to  because of the real potential of actually getting a full nights rest. However my dreams were short lived. After a lovely four hour stretch of sleep, I was awoken at 3am with the nurses bringing in a new roommate - who was in labor! There was no getting to sleep after that.They were nice but her and her friend were dovening all night, one of them took a shower and there was all the breathing hard from being in labor. I thought to myself, that's it, I am determined to go home today, I can't take being here another night! So, the next morning, I asked the nurses about going home a day early because I was getting terrible sleep, and they said the doctor is supposed to see me today and I can speak to him then about going home. While I was waiting,  breakfast and lunch was brought to me which made me discover a downside of being on the seventh floor. You don't get to go down to get your own food from the dining hall, they bring it to you. Which apparently means you get the shaft when it comes to food. My breakfast was literally some white bread, a hard boiled egg, a couple slices of cheese, a bowl of tomatoes, and a vanilla pudding. At least it made me survive. The doctor didn't come around until around 11:30am and I told him my situation and he asked if I had contractions and how I was feeling, and said it would be fine for me to go home. I would just need to come back right away if I have contractions. I think the issue of not getting good rest at the hospital really needs to be seriously addressed. There are things that I wonder are necessary and could be changed, like is the  beeping that I hear outside my room really necessary? Since I wasn't in labor, did I really need to be in the maternity ward with the other woman and babies? I'm pretty sure stress and sleep deprivation also contributes to pre-term labor so in order to accurately monitor me, wouldn't it make sense to make sure I'm as rested and relaxed as possible? I get that maybe there aren't enough rooms to be able to have your own room, but it seems like it could at least be organized better where patients who do not need monitors on their belly all night and just need to be at the hospital to make sure they don't have contractions, do not need to be in the same room with patients who do need all the monitoring. Anyway, I wish I had more power because I really pity anyone who has to stay at the hospital for an extended period of time because not getting a good nights rest is absolute torture. This is an update, but I was so excited to see it, here is a video from the "Healthcare Triage" youtube channel that I love about the issue of not being able to get good sleep in the hospital and the research done on it:
https://youtu.be/vFclKfulL3w

As soon as the doctor told me I was able to go home, I was overjoyed and told my husband right away. He was coming anyway that day to to visit with the kids because the kids get out of school earlier on Tuesdays. They came and we all ate dinner at one of the restaurants at the hospital which was so nice considering the meals I had eaten earlier that day. One of the benefits of living in Israel is you actually get to eat at the restaurants at the hospital, because most (if not all) are Kosher and there are a variety of different restaurants for your choosing. We also took some yummy things from Roladin home for later. It was so good to see them. That night I went home and had my first shower/bath in awhile and had my first full nights rest in my amazingly comfy bed(all things I realize we take for granted) and the next morning I woke up, I felt like a million bucks! There really is no place like home!

Something that made this whole experience more bearable was the amazing community support we received throughout all of this. There were two communities that helped us, the one we live in now and the one we used to live in when we first made aliyah.  I really believe prayer in cases where you don't have any control, is the first thing you should do when you are in need of help, and so I had asked some friends from the old community we were at for their tefillos(prayers) and I also told a couple friends about our situation in the current community we live in. To which, my friend I told organized meals for us for the rest of the week, as well a few meals every week that I would be on partial bed rest, and organized a tehillim group, and even offered to watch our kids to let Stephan come be with me more which was amazing. I had friends and my sister constantly checking up on me and asking how I was doing and sending their best wishes and prayers. I had friends (and people I didn't know before) tell me about their experiences with their preemies and how everything turned out okay, which is one of the most comforting things to hear because they have gone through something similar which gives me more objective hope.  Another thing that really blew me away was the community we first started in (Nofei Hashemesh) our first year here in Israel, a friend of mine there wanted to help us out (despite us not being local anymore) and asked the community if anyone wanted to chip in to give us a gift certificate to OrderApp where you can order food and have it delivered to your house. She ended up giving us a gift certificate of  1400NIS to orderapp thanks to the additional support of the community. We were speechless and so touched by the amazing chesed of the community, it was such a kiddush Hashem and made us feel so blessed to be Jews.