The Raths

The Raths of Garvey Manor, Lisburn descend on New York City today.

Watch out for updates....!

NI in NY

Bout ye!

Last night I was at the Knitting Factory in lower Manhattan to watch performances of some of the best up and coming artists from Northern Ireland. They had been brought to the US to play a number of gigs/sets and last night was the showcase for many of the musicians...
http://www.knittingfactory.com/show.php?event_id=102704

The event also coincided with the first screening of 'So Hard to Beat', a documentary telling the story of Northern Ireland's rich musical history...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/6497699.stm

A very nostalgic evening!

Sunday Afternoon

After the preceding week's 6 inches of snow the sun had come out and the temperatures had risen to represent the fine Spring season in the tri-state area. To revel in the new found warmth Laura (my housemate) and I decided to take a wee Sunday afternoon stroll along the New Jersey coast. It turned into a slightly longer adventure as we visited some of NJ's lesser known attractions. We stumbled upon St. Peter's Prep playing Parsippany in a game of rugby no less! A fun afternoon capped off by a journey home on the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail - fantastic.

The Colgate Clock which is illuminated at night

'Trapped' - NJ's view of Downtown Manhattan

Liberty State Park where you spy Lady Liberty to the south

The locals leave a lot to be desired!

Once you get to NJ there is no turning back...

http://www.google.com/maps?q=Jersey+City,+NJ+07310,+USA&sa=X&oi=map&ct=title

And...

...there will be more updates of my non-stop New York antics soon!

March Moments

It appears that I have been rather lax again when it comes to updating this blog. I know my strong readership will have been rather disappointed at this especially as they aim to distract themselves from the traumatic event known as revision. So to curb some of that annoyance please enjoy the following March Moments...

Peter Ricketts
Wednesday March 7th
If you work at Tesco and have ever met Terry Leahy, if you work at the BBC and have ever met Mark Thompson or if you work at Chelsea and have ever met José Mourinho then you will understand. The most senior of all civil servants in the FCO (www.fco.gov.uk) visited the 4th largest overseas post of the FCO in the world (www.britainusa.com/ny) and presented the visa section with the first Charter Mark (www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/chartermark) ever to be awarded to a post of UK Visas (www.ukvisas.gov.uk). The poor man had to endure my enthralling conversation but no doubt I enjoyed meeting him (because I had learnt all about him by reading his blog on the FCO site) more than he will remember meeting me. So that's what I do...sort of...sometimes!

English Conversation @ N.I.M.C
Saturday March 10th
I spent the morning talking to immigrants. A strange thing to do considering that 75% of the nationals that I deal with in work are not United States citizens. However it was a really fantastic morning speaking to these people. Many of them were there trying to improve their conversational English. It will help them to better life in the U.S. and I was impressed by their willingness to learn new language. And speak to a crazy Northern Irish volunteer!

The Shins
Wednesday March 14th
I went to watch American band The Shins at The Theater at Madison Square Garden. Awesome!

Visa Section Team Day

Thursday March 15th

As a team building exercise the visa section spent the day out of the office 'not treasure hunting' in Greenwich Village and exploring a neighbourhood of the city. It was nice to get out of the office and even nicer to team build in the pub after. A nice meal and (quite) a few drinks were well deserved. Thanks to all those UK taxpayers for funding the occasion.

The winning team - my team!

La Traviata

Friday March 16th

Now I may not seem like the most cultured of people, especially given my previous comment about free food and drinks, but my delightful housemates decided it was necessary to teach me how to live like the true Manhattanite. The Metropolitan Opera at the Lincoln Center was the destination for my first experience of opera. Although not fully converted I have to say that I was very impressed by the surroundings - a hugely aesthetically pleasing place - and by the sheer power of the performers. It wouldn't be necessary to drag me back kicking and screaming but a regular event it is unlikely to become. I am still an indie kid at heart!

Fake St. Patrick's Day

With March 17th still two weeks away the residents of Hoboken, NJ, which is just down the road from my humble Jersey City abode, were celebrating St. Patrick's Day. A smart idea considering the competition they would get from NYC if they were to revel in all things Irish on the same day. I wasn't overly convinced by the authenticity of many of the 'Irish' participants and after a few drinks made my feelings clear - questioning their knowledge of the island and whether they had ever visited! Not too worry though, it didn't get into any confrontations as I soon forgot when the beers rolled in. Happy Fake St. Patrick's Day!

Celts together - Debbie and Myself

Leonie - Nationality: Australian - Sobriety: Scarce

Mr Tempest - unfortunately English. Miss Thomas - Welsh

Amar - Irishness: None - Drunk: Of course

New Jersey Devils vs. Toronto Maple Leafs

Another trip to watch 'Hockey', this time at the Continental Airlines Arena in New Jersey. The Leafs one the game, which was decided by a shootout. An entertaining way to ensure there was a winner - a necessity in American sport.