Mark worked early hours every day and was able to finish his nest surveys for the summer! He will go to the refuge a few evenings to spot light for predators, but will mostly focus on analyzing the data. He’s going to have a full work load this semester with his classes and projects.
This week was the national conference Mark was selected to present at. Due to COVID-19 he didn’t get to present in person. Instead he posted his PowerPoint on the conference website for others to read.
Mark spent most of the day Friday helping his parents repair his aunt’s fence. He came home and spent more time finishing off his school work. He works so hard every day! I am very proud of all he does!
VIPKID has been a little slow for me which is odd, but that happens occasionally. I open the times I’m willing to teach but there’s no guarantee they will book (though usually 99% of my slots do get booked by my incredible regular students). President Trump’s announcement that WeChat and TikTok may be banned was sad for me and my Chinese friends. I use WeChat to talk to many of my favorite students and their families. I’m hopeful that the owners of the apps will compromise with the US so we will be able to continue using the apps. But if not, I’ll use email to talk to my friends. I love my friends in China! This week two moms offered to teach me Chinese! I’m not too hopeful that I’ll actually learn the language but it’s fun to know a few words. Another mom offered to let us stay in their home if we come to visit China, and other families want us to come see them and eat dinner with them. I’m not sure if we’ll ever travel that far, but the offers make me feel very loved. I also have several students who want to come to Utah to see me. That would be so fun! Maybe we’ll get some visitors after the virus!
This week I also helped one of my students edit her speech for a national English competition she’ll present in next month. It was so fun to help her and I can’t wait to see how she does!
Our garden continues to produce more than we can eat. I’ve been puréeing tomatoes and freezing them in ice cube trays. I love adding these to soups or spaghetti sauce for a more fresh flavor and it’s a great way to stay on top of our produce. I’ve also been making oodles of zoodles and freezing those too! We’ve had so much fun trying new zucchini recipes. This week we had zucchini lasagna and mini zucchini pizzas with turkey pepperoni.
The county fair was this week. Although it’s one of our favorite summer traditions we decided not to go. We’re still not going to unnecessary events in hopes that we will avoid spreading the virus. I hope things will be back to normal next summer so we can go to the fair every day like we usually do!
Our Story: The Bell Family 