For non Colombians living in Armenia

bufalo says on May 22, 2009, 18:32:

Where is the English Pub? When I left Armenia recently there was an "Irish" bar in the north called "the Shamrock" or something. I went in an talked to the server and they had no idea the place was supposed to be Irish. It was all Colombian except for the name.

Are you the owner? If so, I'd talk to your staff because some have no idea about the theme of the place. I unfortunately didn't stay to really try the place out as I was just passing, plus most of my bar days are over. I had hoped I'd be able to get some good Irish grub....

"If you don't like it - lump it, take it down the road and dump it." - Archie Bunker played by Carroll O'Connor Avianca sucks major.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

bufalo says on May 22, 2009, 21:00:

Escuela de Administración y Mercadotecnia - oops, jummymcc already wrote it above. It's by the bridge that runs on Bolivar. It's a college.

"If you don't like it - lump it, take it down the road and dump it." - Archie Bunker played by Carroll O'Connor Avianca sucks major.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

jimmymcc says on May 23, 2009, 09:48:

The Shamrock is still there, but I have never been to it as its Colombian, there is also a coffee bar behind La Cronica which is kind of Irish, the owners father ued to be Irish but his son who runs it now is very strange,
The English Pub is run by Manual from the college, he used to have it before but closed it because of the college Colombiao American, they have some contract with EAM that they can only teach and prompte English there, the contract finishes in just over one year,

0 funny, 0 helpful.

bufalo says on May 23, 2009, 16:25:

I'm a bit confused.... The English Pub is an english school closed down because the Colombo Americano (used to work there, horrible) had exclusive rights to run classes at EAM???

Or it'a Pub in EAM and somehow was close by the Colombo Americano....

"If you don't like it - lump it, take it down the road and dump it." - Archie Bunker played by Carroll O'Connor Avianca sucks major.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

jimmymcc says on May 23, 2009, 19:53:

Ok I will try again as yes its a bit ood to say the least, Manuel who runs EAM used to have an english club in the college, but because of the previous governer, he told me he had to stop the English club because of Colombo Americano....
it was a pub come music dancing within the college,
Even now he is not allowed to have any english teachers at EAM until the contract runs out. they do teach English but the teachers have to be from Colombo Americano.
Only in Colombia, or maybe only Armenia.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

bufalo says on May 23, 2009, 20:52:

Yup,
every time they change the governor, things change all around. Did they finally finish the main street? They call it Calle Real now. How about the parks to the south of it?


The old gov took all the money and left the new one with the job to do. Who knows what the new one is stealing from...

I applied to EAM aways back but there was a lot of runouround so I didn't follow up. Gran Colombia was a joke when I worked there.

"If you don't like it - lump it, take it down the road and dump it." - Archie Bunker played by Carroll O'Connor Avianca sucks major.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

jimmymcc says on May 25, 2009, 08:58:

bufalo/ The main street is that the 14th ave, if so yes its looking good now and all the coffee booths are open now with tables and chairs in the middle. Yes the park in the south is finished and its abig improvement, still no shops opened yet, I dont go down that side too often,and not at night,
at the back of EAM which is the field across the road they are going to build a sports centre for the college, when I dont know,
I thought Gran Colombia was a good gollege, I know students who say Colombo Americano is not good, and the teachers dont care,it seems to be all about taking the money and thats it, there is the Cambridge college as well and he is offering teachers $4,500 mil an hour,PLEASE no one in their right mind would teach for that, as for ASI which used t be English World another joke. I feel sorry for a lot of the students,
Also work has started where the old beer company used to be, pass the flyover, they are building an Exito, more say Home Shopping whichever it will be good for Armenia, they are also going to build a 700 bedroom hotel near the airport, must be for all the spanish when the fly to Madrid direct.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

bufalo says on May 25, 2009, 18:21:

Oh crud ,the Exito. It won't benefit anything at all. Can you imagine the traffic it's going to cause there? It's going to be smack dab in the middle of the city (well, almost). I do like the foot traffic along 14th, the only problem is that the people who own the stores charge way too much for rent and a lot of places closed, I imagine others opened though. Gran Colombia I think is a good college, but I tried to be an English teacher and it was really bad to teach there, supposedly they were going to make a lot of changes, but I was told the same thing every week with nothing....

The real oddball thing is that a lot of students that graduate Colombo Americano speak really good English, however, I really don't know how! Eberyone's late, leaves early in the afternoon/night classes. They play "games" all the time and I really didn't see it as a serious school but I was amazed when I taught a final level class there and people were on the ball. My sister-in-law went to..... I forget the name but it is across from the Estellar hotel - damn horrible. I went and asked once for my wife and the guy said that there were lots of field trips so the students had to defend themselves in English. They would go to SAO and Estellar and other cafes and such. Who the heck speaks English in those places? I asked the guy that and he had no answer. My sister in law didn't learn anything there (but she's not the best student either...)

Is there still massive construction going on? Most of them are on places where it's illegal to construct due to the earthquake. There used to be a lot of houses behind EAM that literally disappeared with the earthequake.

Have you heard anything about the fil/video festival this year? I won't make it since I'm in NYC. One year it was great, the other was downhill (bad planning, cancellations without telling anyone). I think Tuesday nights there's free movies in SENA in barrio Galan.

"If you don't like it - lump it, take it down the road and dump it." - Archie Bunker played by Carroll O'Connor Avianca sucks major.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

jimmymcc says on May 25, 2009, 19:45:

thanks, with the Exito they have made a new road right down the middle so it will cause more traffic, yes a lot of shops have closed and its looking grim at the moment but I think thats down to DMG and the others, two supermarkets closed one in the north opp the sports centre and one in the south. next to centerales, its now a very good and cheap fruit and veg shop,
they tried to ban people selling on the street but it only lasted a few weeks, and all the DVD chaps are on the street again,
I never heard of fil/video festival, when is it usually on.
I think the college was the English Acadamy, yes they are bad and haved moved near CRQ,

0 funny, 0 helpful.

bufalo says on May 25, 2009, 20:37:

I'm trying to think of which supermarket closed up north opposite a sports center..... is it further than SAO?

They always try to ban those people but it never works. DMG? Don't buy the DVD's on the streets! Go to Sandandresitos and have them show you what you want to buy on their tv's, make sure it's DVD and not VCD and that the menus work!

"If you don't like it - lump it, take it down the road and dump it." - Archie Bunker played by Carroll O'Connor Avianca sucks major.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

jimmymcc says on May 26, 2009, 07:17:

Thanks yes I buy all my dvd's from one guy and so far all pefect, They are so good here as when in London the quality was always bad,
The supermarket was only about 6- 12 months old, it was at the roundabout near CRQ,

0 funny, 0 helpful.

bufalo says on May 26, 2009, 08:18:

roundabout by CRQ..... I'm sure at some point later on when I least expect it, it'll hit me. Then again I left almost a year ago.

"If you don't like it - lump it, take it down the road and dump it." - Archie Bunker played by Carroll O'Connor Avianca sucks major.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

vickysanmon@gmail.com says on May 26, 2009, 08:39:

hey jimmy, are they going to build something in between the EAM and my house????
Yeah... speaking of the Bavaria spot, everybody says something different, they say half is gonna be apartments and the other half is gonna be something like exito, carrefour, flamingo... who knows! lol

Colombiana, y pa' más pica Quindiana! HP xD

0 funny, 0 helpful.

bufalo says on May 26, 2009, 09:25:

They've been saying the Exito is going there for years now. They also cleared out a whole bunch of houses down by the bus terminal, right across from "el mirador" and supposedly Exito was going there too. Who knows?

Someone did mention the mayor or governor... I didn't like my first experience when the now gov was running for office. I was teaching English to a student in a school across from Colombo Americano. In another room was a bunch of people there to listen to the guy campaign. He comes in my room, tucking his shirt in, realizes we are there so he TAKES HIS HAND OUT OF HIS PANTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and extends it to me saying, "Hello (whatever his name was) - gubernatorial candidate. So, teaching huh?

Then a weird pause as my student and I just stared at him. Then he said "English I guess? Well, don't forget to vote for me."

And left. What a cheezy fellow. Same with some of the people he appointed. How is he doing?

"If you don't like it - lump it, take it down the road and dump it." - Archie Bunker played by Carroll O'Connor Avianca sucks major.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

jimmymcc says on May 26, 2009, 16:33:

I take it you didn't vote for him, as soon as they get elected its a case of Me, Myself and I,

0 funny, 0 helpful.

jimmymcc says on May 26, 2009, 16:34:

Hi vicky yep its going to be a fitness sports centre, for EAM,
hope to see you on Friday,

0 funny, 0 helpful.

bufalo says on May 27, 2009, 06:05:

Yup, that's the "burro con plata". The guy is a huge dolt. I had some stuff to do with some of his appointees too - just as dumb. Do you live in Calarca now?

"If you don't like it - lump it, take it down the road and dump it." - Archie Bunker played by Carroll O'Connor Avianca sucks major.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

bufalo says on May 27, 2009, 06:06:

DON'T SHAKE HIS HAND!!!!

Funny because I was subcontracted by his opponent for a campaign video just before that.

"If you don't like it - lump it, take it down the road and dump it." - Archie Bunker played by Carroll O'Connor Avianca sucks major.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

jimmymcc says on May 27, 2009, 09:10:

The guy in the red tie, hmmm he is on his way to prison by all accounts isnt he the one with the scandel for the Quindio lottery. on that note | will say no more just in case,

0 funny, 0 helpful.

bufalo says on May 27, 2009, 11:36:

IS HE GOING TO JAIL????? He's the gov. (or at least looks like it in the pic.) There's been plenty of scandals with the Quindio lottery, sure this is a new one?

There was one a way back that they remote controlled the machine from the street or an office across the street.

"If you don't like it - lump it, take it down the road and dump it." - Archie Bunker played by Carroll O'Connor Avianca sucks major.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

jimmymcc says on May 27, 2009, 11:51:

yes I have double checked and its him he did something dodgy with the lottery money and invested or lent to some not so good people, the bank are trying to take his house as the gang borrowed money and used his property as a bond, but they did not pay the money back, so it looks like he will loose the house. shameeeeeeeeeeeee. not.
why these people are allowed into govertment I dont know.
did you hear about the man that was stabbed to death on the no 2 bus coming from the Caimo, he was a loan shark, so no loss there.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

bufalo says on May 27, 2009, 12:32:

almost anyone loaning money in colombia is a shark, unfortunately the interest rates are nuts.

Patrana looks old as hell, my wife says the two broads next to him look familiar, but she can't place who they are.

"If you don't like it - lump it, take it down the road and dump it." - Archie Bunker played by Carroll O'Connor Avianca sucks major.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

vickysanmon@gmail.com says on May 27, 2009, 16:54:

Jimmy, I'm going with some classmates of mine!
but we need to know what's the price of a normal dish... we were thinking of having lunch there, after our technology class... so, what do u think ? is there gonna be food by that time?
TY xD

Colombiana, y pa' más pica Quindiana! HP xD

0 funny, 0 helpful.

jimmymcc says on May 28, 2009, 11:25:

Hi Vivky lunch time will be fine the food starts at 11.30 onwards, I am selling Lunch for 5 mil, for
Beef and Guinness Sausage,
Champ Potatoes
Irish Soda Bread
Buttered Cabbage
Juice,
I am also doing the radio show Tonight with Manuel from 7.00 - 8.00 pm on 102.1 FM ( god help me)
see you Tomorrow.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

jimmymcc says on May 28, 2009, 11:32:

bufalo the supermarket that closed down was La Canasta,
also for anyone driving in Armenia do not use the Gas station TEXACO near CRQ its the station that opened last year,
THE CLOCKS ON THE PUMPS ARE RIGGED. you only get half of what you paid for, and dont notice it till you check the gauge in the car afterwards,

0 funny, 0 helpful.

bufalo says on May 28, 2009, 13:03:

We think we know of the supermarket you mean, it was across the street from the "coliseo del café"? That's been there for at least a few years. Maybe a different one?

Rigging in Colombia????!!!!! can't say that I'm shocked.....

"If you don't like it - lump it, take it down the road and dump it." - Archie Bunker played by Carroll O'Connor Avianca sucks major.

0 funny, 0 helpful.