I'm Moving!

That's right!  This fall I'll be moving to Bolivia to work with Hospitals of Hope and I thought it was only fitting to start this new season of my life with a new blog!  

While "A life Extraordinary" was a great place to document my post college memories as I experienced life back home and in Thailand, it's time to move on!  I'll be leaving this site up for archives but all future posts will be made at my new blog which you can find at:

http://amandadorough.com

So, come follow me as I conquer South America.  I'd love to have you along for the ride!

Six Months In

It's hard to believe my World Race is more than halfway over....

We leave on a multi day trek to Mozambique on Tuesday.  My month in South Africa has flown by.  I'm still so amazed.

If you want to read any of my blog posts from the last couple months check out my World Race Blog here http://amandadorough.theworldrace.org

In the meantime, here are some pics from my month in South Africa

Our homes for the month

We did a sports ministry with the kids in the local township

Tug-o-war

The kids are so precious! 

Basically we live in paradise, right on the Garden Route in South Africa

Highest bungy bridge in the world.  No I didn't do it but my friends did.

I went swimming with the seals.

Getting up close and personal with elephants.

Greetings From the Land of One Week Early

What have I been up to these last few months????

My World Race adventures began in Ecuador...

Where I straddled the fake Equator

Then found a home in a small farming town called Conocoto

We worked hard 5 days a week building a church

But still found time to enjoy our off days in Quito

We even made new friends in the park.

Our last weekend we journeyed high into the Andes rainforests to hike

And got to spend quality time with good friends from different teams.

Next we were off to Peru

Where we lived in sandy, dusty, Trujillo

Our house came with an awesome view of the city, and the ocean

but the color pallet made everything kind of blend together...

Except for in Trujillo's main square where the colors were bright and happy

We ate a lot, a lot of food.  My favorite?  Aji de gallina!

And visited a lot of houses for meals where we ate things like chicken foot soup.

Most mornings we worked with the Compassion International program at our church

And on our off day we got to hang out at Huanchaco beach...

and do things like surfing

Our third month we were off to Bolivia with a stop at...

the beautiful Lake Titicaca along the way

where we toured the floating islands

and even got to try on their outfits

Then finally we made it to Cochabamba where we were partnered with

Hospitales de Esperanza aka Hospitals of Hope

an American run Christian hospital on the outskirts of the city

Our first day we even got to dress up in scrubs and take part in the parade

complete with the hospitals ambulance

On our first free day we took the teleferico...

to the top of the mountain where...

we saw the world's largest jesus statue, which is even larger than the one in Rio de Janero and can be seen everywhere in the Cochabamba valley

Over the month we worked hard painting the local school...

Visiting kids in the pediatric unit of Cochabamba's main hospital, Viedma...

teaching english...

and playing with the local kids

who were oh so adorable! 

Currently we are living in the capital of Albania, Tirana, and having a fantastic time working for Campus Crusade for Christ

If you would like to read more about the awesome things that happened these past few months you can find the stories at http://amandadorough.theworldrace.org

Hello? Are you still there???

Knock, knock, knock.  Hello is anyone there?  Apparently not me since my last post was months ago!  Since then I've roadtripped from Denver to NC and back for World Race Training camp in eastern TN and it was amazing.  I have a great squad and a great team!

Then, after I got back I quit my job, cleaned, packed and right now I'm sitting in the Miami airport waiting to catch a flight to the first country of my race, Ecuador!  And I am so excited!

So I am here to say it might get quiet again for a little while, but that doesn't mean I'm not writing, taking pictures or making videos!  Head over to my World Race blog at amandadorough.theworldrace.org to see it all.  Thanks for sticking around!

Introducing Team Battle Cry!

Exploring Portland

  Growing up in Seattle, Portland was always our friendly neighbor to the south.  I would drive through it on my way to hear, again on my way to there.  In fact I've past through Portland at least 2 dozen times, but I never actually stopped in Portland and I thought there was no time like the present for this to be remedied.

   See, when I was in Thailand we had endless opportunities to explore, and I grew accustomed to frequent adventures, something that has been lacking since I have been back in the US.  I've been.... bored.  So I talked to a couple friends and we decided to make a day trip to Portland to go out and explore.  So to change it up, I am presenting a (mostly) Photo blog about our little adventure to Portland.

Walking down the street the first interesting item we came upon were tons of "food trucks."  So much good food and tons of Thai food!

Then we turned the corner and saw this guy.  Have I ever mentioned I'm afraid of crabs?

After lunch at Baja Fresh we made our way to Powells, a bookstore that takes up a full city block.  It was overwhelming to say the least.

And of course we had to buy stuff.

From there we walked 10 blocks to Voodoo Doughnuts where we were greeted by this, and the line actually stretches around the corner!

So we hunkered in at the back of the line and prepared for our hour wait.

We had some fun while we waited and took a lot of pictures.

Then I saw this across the street so of course I had to run over and take a picture.

Getting closer!  We're almost in the door!

Finally!  We made it inside!.....to be greeted by another, shorter, line.

Victory!  P.S.  If you like meeting people, carry one of these boxes around Portland.  Everyone will want to talk to you.

And they were so delicious!    

From there we walked up the street just a little bit to take pictures of the awesome Portland sign.

On the way back to the car we stumbled across Chinatown, and after Jennifer and I's trip to Victoria last summer, this picture was a must take.

Our last stop before heading back home was Multnomah Falls.  I had heard it was beautiful but still I didn't expect this. Pictures don't do it justice.

So there's a day through Portland.  Would I ago again?  Definitely!  And you should too.