First Post from Qatar - Avatar

So, it's been a while. We've been busy and I would say fairly tired. But I thought I would start off by sharing my first experience with Qatar Malls and the first movie (only the 2nd I've seen in 2 years!).

First a giant thanks to Heather and Paul for watching Noah so James and I could go out. We went to the Villaggio Mall, which as from photos you can see is of an italian theme. It's nice, has a million stores, maybe 1/3 of which we know. It's great on a weeknight, but avoid weekend (Fri/Sat) afternoons; its a madhouse, literally!

We decided to eat dinner first (thankfully - I was starving!), so we went to Macaroni Grill (sound familiar). The shrimp/artichoke dip was excellent as was the shrimp diavolo....James' looked great too. The service was as always, beyond the best - sometimes they just go too far, can you believe I said that!! We've gone to Chili's and Applebees (which I have quickly learned to love because they are so kid friendly) and they literally take Noah out of my hands and walk him around; they are mostly Filipino and very helpful - although they say yes even if they don't understand you...not always so fun!

Anyway - we went over to the theatre and picked our seats and bought tickets... Yes, picked our seats, you pay a different amount based on your location and have to pick while paying. I think our tickets totalled 90 qar (roughtly $24 for both of us). I thought I would really hate that level of control, but it was kind of nice to know exactly where we were sitting and we didn't have to 'compete' for a seat.

We got to walk around Virgin for a bit before and buy a few lightweight shirts for me, went over at 8pm and thoroughly enjoyed Avatar! The popcorn was great - but they don't do butter..oh well! The seats were extremely comfortable, the back went well above my head..so a good night out - hope we get to do more of it!

We move later next week so maybe I can get a post out again next week...