New Testament started at 8. Our first day of this class. It was kind of exciting really. Especially since we didn't even look at the syllabus. How many classes can you say that about? He gave it to us when we first got here, then gave us the updated reading schedule about a week or so ago. Plus, the grading system and our homework stuff is exactly the same. It really doesn't feel like we're in a new class at all. Especially since we're simply moving from the Old Testament to the New. And we spent the first hour of class talking about the inter-testamental period. It was great.
Initially, the class was set up so that we had 2 two-hour blocks of class—one in the morning, one in the evening. We vetoed that idea. So instead, 4 hours straight class in the morning. I'll admit, I was a little nervous and skeptical about this idea. Turns out, it's worked out rather nicely. I had my laptop and an adaptor so I could take notes on there and get more out of it. (For most of it... Bridget lent me her convertor, but as we all already know, convertors don't work to power my laptop. Only adaptors. So halfway through, during a long break, Lauren got her adaptor from her apartment and let me use it for the rest of class.) I knew a lot of what he was saying, but I learned a lot, too. Blessing of religion classes and the scriptures in general. It doesn't matter how many times you read the stories and take the classes—even from the same professor—you still learn what you need to hear. I was amazed at how fast the 4 hours went.
After lunch, everyone went straight for swimming. I grabbed my scriptures and sat on the beach to read. After a half hour or so, my eyes were getting droopy, but I didn't really want to take a nap, so I decided to listen to a talk on my ipod. A week or so ago, Bro. Merrill had mentioned a talk by Spencer W. Kimball—A Style of Our Own in class. One of the beauties of having the Internet in class is that when he mentioned that we should all listen to this talk, I immediately got onto the BYU devotional website, found the talk, and downloaded it to my computer. So, after putting it on my ipod, I headed back down to the beach with my scriptures for round two. I read some more, until my eyes started drooping again, then I put on the ipod and just stared into the Sea of Galilee and listened to Elder Kimball chastise the world. hehehe. I laugh, but that's really what he did. He was really smart about his presentation—I didn't realize it until later when I was telling someone about the talk. He started out big and broad—talking about the great and abominable cities that were destroyed such as Pompey or Sodom and Gemmorah. He talked about the evil practices that went on in each of these cities that were so disgusting that of course we, as an audience, would cheer on their destruction. It was horrific. Then he moved on to chastity, talking about adultery and keeping yourself chaste before marriage. He focused a lot on how it was the most grievous sin, second only to the shedding of innocent blood. We've all heard that, I've never had a problem with that, so it was easy to just smile and nod and not really personalize it. Next step was immodesty. Here's where it started to get personal. I'm sure for many people who heard it—not just me.
For the most part, it was everything that we always hear about modesty. Except, he was much more abrupt than anyone today. The words vile, abomination, and grievous sin, were prominent throughout his talk. You could hear the disappointment in his voice as he talked about the way people dressed during the day. He talked about the Miss Utah pageant, specifically the swimsuit section, and how horrible it was. Seriously, if I were crowned Miss Utah, then heard this talk, I'm pretty sure I would have turned in my crown right then and there.
The part that really shocked me, however, was the statement, "I see women on the streets wearing shorts. There is no place for women to ever wear shorts unless it's in their own rooms of their own home. No shorts. It's immodest. President George Albert Smith, your prophet, has mentioned this many times recently." Of course, my first thought was, "But BYU Honor Code says that shorts are ok. Surely this was a talk directed to the people and culture of that time and isn't applicable to us." Then my next thought was, "Does the fact that it's in the Honor Code really make it permissible? Or, perhaps, is it simply that BYU is slowly conforming to the standards of the world?" I was torn. I asked Benyamin (Cambell), Rebecca and Chris about it later over dinner. I respect their opinions and I really wanted to know. I was shocked to hear both boys say that they would agree with the "No shorts. It's immodest" statement. Chris admitted that perhaps it was due to our Jerusalem Center experience where you never see anyone in shorts, and perhaps he's just overly sensitive at the moment. But still. The fact that two different boys quickly agreed—without even batting an eye—spoke worlds to me. We asked the Brownings. (He is the patriarch over all of Russia as well as the District President of the entire Israel branch, so we figured opinion was worth something :D hehe) Sis. Browning brought up the timing of the talk. Back then, when George Albert Smith was prophet, the shorts in style were the really short shorts. So perhaps the long, knee length shorts would still be permissible. Later that night, I was talking to Bridget about it and she brought up the point of garments and instructions on how they should be worn. Apparently, her mother and sister are very firm in the opinion that women shouldn't show their kneecaps. I had never head this before. Granted, all this is open for interpretation—as are most things in the gospel—but it definitely gave me a lot to think about. It's weird. To say "No shorts" doesn't really affect me much. The only pair of shorts I even own are to put over my bathing suit. So it's not like I have to cleanse my wardrobe. It's just the principle behind the matter that I had never even considered. Huh. One last quote from the talk that I absolutely loved. Girls everywhere, please listen to this! "Men are not going to love you more because your necks are bare; he will love you more when you are properly dressed." It's so true! He also brings up the point that a man will not respect you if you are not properly dressed.
By this point, Bro. Whitchurch's class had returned, so Theresa and I sat on the beach reading our scriptures until dinner time. Dinner was pretty much amazing. We went to the kibbutz restaurant down the street. The specialty? St. Peter's fish. (From the story when Peter found the coin in the mouth of the fish.) I knew that. What I hadn't expected until Bro. Merrill warned us just beforehand, was that the fish was gutted... and nothing else. It came on your plate, bones and all, in the purest shape of a fish you could fathom. Head and all. It was rather disgusting looking. At this point, I was torn. I really wanted to eat the fish, to have a cultural experience, yet at the same time, I wanted to be full at the end of the meal. They also served pizza. Hmmmm... Solution? 
I got pizza, Chris got fish, and we split them. I have to admit, once you got past moving the fin to get the meat underneath, as well as ignoring the fish staring back up at you, the fish was actually rather good. Good thing I like fish. Then came the excitement of the night. The adventure, if you will. The challenge of eating the fish eye. I suddenly had memories of regret of not eating chicken feet or 1,000 year old eggs in China. Would I let that regret come again? I could not. I ate the fish eye. Yes, my friends, it is true. I, above all others at my table, was brave and ate the eye of a fish. Oh sure, because of technical difficulties, I may have had to do it twice. (Apparently, the first one I ate wasn't the entire eye.) And sure, perhaps the video we took was of the first one which didn't get nearly so bad a reaction. (We thought we videoed the second, but we had it on the wrong setting so we just got a picture of the first and last scene... ~sigh. Oh well. I have witnesses.) 
Perhaps I gagged three times on the second half (it was much bigger, gooier, and chewier) and everyone around me was more afraid of the eye coming back up than if it was going to go down. Hehehe. But it didn't taste bad. It was just the idea of eating a fish eye, really. Chalk it up for one more crazy thing I've eaten. :D Oh, and don't forget about the stray cat wandering through the restaurant. Ha! After dinner, we drove over to Tiberias where we went to a real grocery store. I haven't seen a real grocery store for over a month. But it feels like six months, to be honest. I struggled seeing meat and fruits and chocolate and yogurt and shampoo all in the same place. Trust me, I got used to it, but it was definitely a shock. The fun part was that Benyamin was trying to get stuff for Rebecca's birthday (it's on the 4th) without her knowledge. It resulted in some extremely funny stories. Seriously, if she doesn't suspect something, it'll be a miracle. After a half hour of wanderings through the streets of Tiberias, we came home. I spent way too long talking to Bridget about shorts, doing homework until I couldn't stay awake any longer, then it was off to bed for all of us. Again, I slept through the rest of my roommates getting ready for bed. That's really odd—because my room is literally the living room. I can stick my foot on the kitchen floor while sitting on my bed. To watch TV, you have to sit on my bed. It is the main area of movement. Plus, I'm not a heavy sleeper. I typically wake up to people moving around. I prefer it when people get up early, because then I'm more likely to get up because there is movement all around. Apparently that hasn't been a factor as of late, because I definitely don't remember a thing.
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