Text Blog Post Entry Five - My Break

Vivian and I decided to spend some time exploring the northern island of New Zealand this holiday. We bought a bus ticket which enabled us to use the intercity buses and any national ferry for thirty hours so we were free to go to wherever we want to go. The first days were rainy and we didn't feel like leaving the motels at Te Kuiti and National Park but we made an expedition to find the falls of National Park. Unfortunately we returned with wet and muddy clothes without having seen the falls.
Whanganui, our next stop, was also full of dark clouds but fortunately without any rain and we could go for a long walk in order to look at the west coast with its black sand. The next day we visited Wellington and took the ferry to Picton with its green mountains and small islands.
We didn't spend more than one day per village. This was a pity in the case of Wellington where I would like to have stayed longer and visit some more cafes and bookshops. The last stop of our trip was Taupo. We knew that many people go bungee jumping there and had some discussions whether we should try it or not. After walking nervously around the area and watching other people jump I decided to jump too so though I was very afraid of the looong distance from the top to the ground. After the jump I felt like a newborn and was very euphoric to show off to my friends and relatives at Germany.
I enjoyed our trip and hope that I can explore the south island next time.

Oral Blog Entry-A Diploma Lecture 1 ( Week six: Unions)

I want to write about the lecture of week six which was called "Unions in New Zealand". Sarah Hardman was the lecturer and chairperson of the ASTE (Association of Staff Tertiary Education). This Union has about 4000 members in New Zealand.
She told us about the general facts of unions and and explained what a union stands for furthermore she informed us about the many benefits of a membership at unions.
There are about 2 000 000 workers in New Zealand but only 330 000 of them are in a union. The number of memberships decreased after 1990 when a new law against unions was established. This law was changed again at 2000 and the numbers increase slowly but they are still not as high as they were used to be.
Sarah told us that every worker should join a union. Gathered people are stronger then a single person. In addition, unions commit for a fair work-life balance. This refers to a man called Samuel Parnell who worked as a carpenter in the 1840s. He refused to work every day for 12 hours and so he was the first person in New Zealand who fought for the right to work not longer than 8 hours so that he would have another 8 hours for recreation and finally 8 hours for sleep. Unions are also fighting for fair pay, sick pay and safety at workplaces. Unions are the voice for working people and in most cases the only chance to influence the employer. But strikes can not be risen from one day to another by a single worker there has to be a collctive agreement before in order to avoid disposal. The leaders are also ellected.
I enjoyed the lecture and heard many new facts about unions and the importance of joining them to safe my rights as an employee.

Stolen America's Cup cloaks dropped off at marae

This article is about some special cloaks which are traditionally used for the Haka, the famous Maori war dance. The cloaks were supposed to be worn by the New Zealand crew of the America's Cup, a famous sailing competition, in order to help to win the Cup. Unfortunately they were stolen, just some hours they were going to be sent to the America's Cup base in Spain. But the thieves finally changed their mind and dropped the clothes at Nga Whare Waatea in Mangere where they were found and returned to the rightful owner, the waka logistics organizer Cyril Wright's ute.
There are many different verb forms in this text. Mainly simple past because the article reports of an incident in the past. But you can also find some examples of other verb forms like past passive (were dropped l.8 - nobody knows who dropped the cloaks), present passive (are to be worn l.3 - general conclusion, no person is mentioned), present perfect passive (have been recovered l.2 - connects past and present, no person is mentioned) or past perfect passive (had been handed l.15 - connects two events in the past, no person is mentioned). The use of passive shows that no one knows the thieves of the cloaks. There is one use of will-future (will lead l.4 - event will happen in the future) and some verbs are infinitive forms with to (e.g. to collect l.11 - in connection with 'sent a friend')