A Christmas Surprise

Preparations for Christmas in New York and Lisburn continued as planned. My mum and sister were expecting to have the first family Christmas without a one member of the Rath clan but little did they know that the boys had planned otherwise...

From October my flights had been booked and there was an overnight trip from Newark to Belfast with my name on it. No delays and a convenient (but false) alarm ready to sound early on Christmas Eve at my Dad's factory. Pick up at Belfast International Airport and a short distance to Lisburn ready for the best Christmas present of the year...

I opened the door to 73 Garvey Manor and was greeted with the most surprised look I have ever seen. My mum screamed the house down while my sister stood in disbelief. Merry Christmas everyone!

If I don't get to see you because of the short duration of my trip home or the Irish Sea in the way have a fantastic Christmas and a wonderful New Year.

Merry Christmas from The Rath Family!

Charles Augustus Lindbergh

To complete the American History unit of the certificate each tutorial class divided into small groups of four or five and debate an era of U.S. history. This role-play exercise took the place of an exam and my group discussed the decade of the 1930's and the period known as the Great Depression.

My character was Charles Lindbergh. He the first man to first solo across the Atlantic Ocean and great an example of the prosperity in America prior to the Wall Street crash of 1929. He was also a key speaker for the America First Committee, an organisation that was against American involvement in World War II.

New York Knicks

Wednesday December 20th 2006. My first ever basketball game. Possibly the best basketball match I will ever go to.

With $15 seats and a perfect view of the whole court the night was set up for something special. The Knicks were hosting the Charlotte Bobcats; a team part owned by basketball legend Michael Jordan (who was at the game). Both teams had been playing poorly in their recent games and potentially anything could happen.

At half time New York trailed by 19 points and missing two of their star players, who were banned for brawling in a previous game, things looked bad. But in the 3rd quarter they fought back and tied the game. The Garden crowd was vocal now and encouraging the Knicks on but despite their best efforts the game ended drawn.

However American sports never end tied. With regulation time completed and no conclusive winner means a 5 minute overtime period to decide a winner. After the first of these the game was still tied and with only 0.1 seconds left in the second it looked set of a third overtime period. The Knicks had possession after a timeout and NBA rules allow a player to tip the ball into the basket from the pass made into the court. This was exactly what happened, sending the MSG crowd wild and giving the Knicks a fantastic win.

http://www.nba.com/games/20061220/CHANYK/recap.html

PS: A little known fact is that the Knicks is the team's nickname. Their actual name is the New York Knickerbockers.

Jane and Laura

The lack of updates since December 13th was caused by the visit of Miss Appleby and Miss Clouting. A week and a bit of sightseeing for them and a week and a bit of entertaining for me!

We made it to a carol concert in St. Patricks church on Madison Avenue, adventured to the Top of the Rock (my second trip in under a month - although during the day this time), spent Sunday relaxing in Hoboken, NJ and a walking along the Jersey City waterfront - awesome views of Manhattan. Dinner in Brooklyn, the Knicks at MSG, drinks in Hell's Kitchen and stuffing our faces in the Tunnel Diner made for a fun packed visit.

I enjoyed having familiar faces, familar accents and despite the sleep deprivation it was a brilliant week and a bit!

Thanks Laura.
Thanks Jane.

Rath meets Rath

I wouldn't say the odds on it happening were beyond my mathematical calculating know-how but I definitely wasn't planning on wasting an evening in New York working it out. Thankfully today when Christopher met Casey there was no need to give it another thought; I has met another Rath!

In my office we are all involved in processing thousands of visa applications for many different types of visas applied for by persons with a wide range of nationalities. Some of the names you see in passports day to day you don't give a second thought but others make you pay closer attention...

- Famous people, e.g. Tim Burton (director/filmmaker).
- Unfortunate people, e.g. John John and Johnny John (father and son).
- Slightly more fortunate people, e.g. Mr. Super Brilliant Smith (honestly!).

So today I paid special attention when I saw the surname Rath in an applicant's passport. As she was presenting her application in person I was able to speak to her. There aren't many of us about and getting to speak to what is most likely a long distant relative was pretty cool. Will I meet another Rath? If I do, I'll surely let you know.

Living for the weekend

After a week of meetings and studying I was looking forward to the weekend......

Friday night was the Consulate Christmas party, held at the penthouse home of the Consulate-General. Upon our 6pm arrival at the Residence we were greeted with a free bar, cheese and crackers and a selection of canapes all courtesy of the UK taxpayer.

On saturday after a brief recovery period it was time for the event fast becoming a favourite Mountbatten money saving exercise. A few beers for the liquor store, a deck of cards and poker chips and you have a solid few hours of Texas no limit hold 'em! A great nights entertainment made even better by a my first place finish.

And today I took a train out to Garden City on Long Island to play football with some of the people from my office, from the UK mission to the UN. We took on a team from the German Consulate and a local team made up of mainly Americans. We played two games each and the results are as follows...

UK team 1 - 1 US team
German team 2 - 2 US team
UK team 4 - 0 German team

...all round a winning weekend!

PS 188

I went to the Public School 188 on East Houston Street and did some more volunteering. I helped out at the school's Saturday morning sports programme. The kids are given the opportunity to come and use the gym's facilites. My job was to help organise some of the games and generally ignore the fact that I'd drunk quite a few pints the night before.

What struck about the morning, more than how bad I was at basketball, was how opinionated every child was - true New Yorkers in the making. It was a fun morning; I learnt how to throw an American Football, met young and old New Yorkers and got a bit of exercise. A great way to start my weekend...roll on tonight's poker game!!!

The Elwoods

After work on Thursday I met up with a couple of very familiar faces. My aunt and uncle were in the city for a few days taking in the sights and enjoying the unseasonably warm weather - it was nearly 20 degrees celsius despite the fact that December was only hours away!

After dinner at Planet Hollywood, Times Square we walked round to The Rockefeller Center. The Christmas tree had had its lights turned on earlier in the week and it looks fantastic: no decorations but covered in multicoloured lights it is very tasteful despite its huge size. At the center you can take a brief, $20 elevator ride to the Top of the Rock. This 70th floor observation deck gives what is arguably the best view of NYC. The view from the Empire State Building's observation deck is higher but what you cannot see is the building itself.

The clear sky and the illuminated skyline made for an awesome view. There will be photos for those of you who don't get to visit......when I get myself another new camera first.