Category Archives: Travel

International, Language, Religion, Travel

POPE FRANCIS WILL ADDRESS FILIPINOS IN TAGALOG DURING VISIT TO THE PHILIPPINES

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imageThe Vatican, Italy (The Adobo Chronicles) – Filipino Church leaders preparing for Pope Francis’ visit to the Philippines in January have announced that the head of the Roman Catholic Church will speak in English during his speeches and meetings with the Filipino people. This, despite the fact that the Argentinian pontiff is not as comfortable with English as he is in Latin and Spanish.

Today, however, The Vatican once again surprised many who are closely watching the Pope’s pronouncements and activities. It was revealed that Francis has instead chosen to speak in Tagalog while visiting the Philippines. He is currently taking Tagalog lessons from a private coach in Rome.

Tagalog (Pilipino) is the national language of the Philippines. It draws on many Spanish words (The Philippines was under Spanish rule for many centuries before the U.S. brought Hollywood into the country).

Pope Francis said that so far, learning Tagalog has been a breeze, saying that in fact, he didn’t have to re-learn many words and phrases which have the same meaning in both Tagalog and Spanish, like ‘Padre’ (father), ‘relihiyon’ (religion), ‘krus’ (cross), and ‘Espirito Santo’ (Holy Spirit).

Perhaps the only phrase the Pope will not get quite right is ‘noche buena’ which douesn’t mean ‘a good night’ in Tagalog. Rather it means ‘midnight feast.’ As in food.

International, Politics, Religion, Travel

POPE FRANCIS TO SKIP MEETING WITH AQUINO DURING VISIT TO THE PHILIPPINES

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Pope Francis
Pope Francis

The Vatican, Italy (The Adobo Chronicles) – Church officials in the Philippines have just publicly released the itinerary of Pope Francis when he visits the country January 15-19, 2015.

It will be a busy schedule for the charismatic leader of the Roman Catholic Church. It includes a meeting with President NoyNoy Aquino and other government officials, a visit with the victims of last year’s Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) in Tacloban, a youth rally at the the oldest Catholic University in Asia (University of Santo Tomas), and a shopping spree at the SM Mall of Asia.

Upon receiving details of his Philippine schedule, Pope Francis said that he will skip the meeting with Aquino at Malacañang, the presidential palace.  Instead, the Pope said he would like to spend an extra day in Tacloban, the city hardest hit by the devastating typhoon.

In explaining his decision, Pope Francis said that it has come to his attention that Aquino had skipped a trip to Tacloban during activities commemorating the one-year anniversay of Yolanda. Many believe that Aquino’s decision was politcally motivated, Tacloban being the turf of his political nemesis, the Romualdezes (including former First Lady Imelda Romualdez Marcos).

“I will atone for this sinful act of Aquino by spending more time with the people of Tacloban,” the pontiff said. “If Aquino wants to meet with me, he can meet me in Tacloban,” he added.

Science and Environment, Technology, Travel

LANDING ON A COMET: THE TRUTH BEHIND THE ROSETTA SPACE MISSION

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The spaceship Rosetta (Illustration: cbsnews.com)
The spaceship Rosetta (Illustration: cbsnews.com)

London, Great Britain (The Adobo Chronicles) – History was made today when a mechanical space probe called Philae landed on a comet named 67P some 310 million miles from Earth.

European Space Agency (ESA) scientists and executives high-fived and hugged each other when the landing was confirmed.

The probe was released from the mother ship Rosetta, an unmanned space ship that has been in orbit for more than a decade now.

Till this very day, the mission of the Rosetta was not known, except by the top brass at ESA, the European counterpart of the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

But now that the comet landing has been successfully accomplished, ESA revealed that Rosetta’s mission was to find out if there was life in the comet and if so, what language or languages the beings spoke.

The Philae is equipped with the Rosetta Stone language learning system, especially designed to record spoken word and to translate them into English and other languages. It is the same system earthlings purchase on Amazon.com to learn different languages and improve their language skills.

Identifying the language spoken in the comet will give scientists a clue as to which country or continent on earth the comet’s beings originally came from.  It has long been established that earthlings have traveled or migrated to planets, moons, stars and comets and have established permanent residency in these locations within the solar system.

Disclosure: Rosetta Stone is NOT an advertiser in The Adobo Chronicles, but we welcome any donation from Rosetta that will go to one or more of the projects we support.