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Blue Betty Rides Again

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My dear friends who are sweet enough to read this blog, I have just had one of the most amazing days of my life! If you were to just look at it on paper, it might seem rather ordinary, but it was/is pure magic. You know that feeling when you get your first apartment after college? Or that first job? I feel like this is the first time in my life that every single aspect of my life is my own, and absolutely new. It's just brilliant. Maybe because basic things are challenges here, but yesterday I got a phone (for $20 yeah!) and today I got a bike and an apartment!!!!! Whoooo Hoooo! Thank god my friend Tommy was with me for the bikes, because my Chinese is totally Bu Hao! He got a black bike and I got a powder blue bike with a sticker that says, "Betty". So, I took Blue Betty out on the town and rode for miles (i LOVE that Beijing is flat :) and it was truly amazing. I really felt like I was part of this town today, riding around either dodging cars like Frogger, or cycling ...
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After 36 hours of traveling (three planes and lots of layovers) we have arrived at Uluru.  The tiny Ayers Rock airport was the last vestige of air conditioning before stepping out into the 98 degree heat.  The stillness of the landscape is juxtaposed with a palpable vitality and living history, and our first stop from the airport was Anangu homelands of Uncle Bob Randall and his family.  Driving along the red track Uncle Bob was telling us the hopes and dreams for his family's land.  "The marker starts here, and then goes for as far as your eye can see." We then arrive at the spot where I learned how to cook a kangaroo tail three years ago, and now they've added to toilets and a little shelter for Grandmother Barbara to use when she comes out to teach.  Johnny, Uncle Bob's son, has been clearing  insidious non-native grass and the place looks amazing.  This is the spot where hopefully more groups will have the chance to experience the Anangu stori...
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in the shadow of Uluru

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The silence of the desert is punctuated alternately by crickets and wild dogs in the distance. The moon almost reflects on the red dirt and the gum trees are transformed into silver fountains. The simplicity of fully being present in the moment is sharply contrasted with the gross injustice surrounding this most sacred centre of Australia. Should I make a list? 1. there is no money for housing at Mutujulu (the Aboriginal community here), but the Park service just built a 2o million (that's right- twenty million) dollar "viewing" platform for tourists. 2. the children of Mutujulu are not "allowed" to have a pool, because of expense and water... um, but at Yulara (the tourist resorts on the "other" side of the rock) every hotel and campground has a pool. 3. the only store in Mutujulu is run by non-indigenous people and the prices are exorbitant. I could take up pages and pages to list what is unfair, unjust, violent and how much the government ...
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