I almost didn’t get into a boliche because I had a tampon in my bag

Any American woman (or female from the Western world) may be a little confused by that sentence. First off, a boliche is a night club – a place you go to dance. Anyway, the security at this place was major. Guys had to go through metal detectors and girls had a pat down process. During this process, the security lady found the tampon (and my allergy medicine, which she wasn’t pleased about either). I had to whine a lot (something I have perfected by watching the Argentines who want to get into someplace or accomplish something like change the date of a test) because she really did not want to let me in. She called over the male security guard to ask him what she should do about it. So I’m standing there while they are both looking at the plastic-wrapped yellow Tampax. Seeing as how I am completely free of shame, I begin to explain - in Spanish - about women and menstruation. The male security guard looks at the woman and tells her that I am a foreigner and to let me in. After all that, the club wasn’t that great (it was better than most, which only play electronic music); I’m not really much of a club person.

We also had a “cocina mendocina” (Mendoza kitchen) class. We made flan, alfajores (sandwich cookies), empanadas, tortitas (little rolls), and a veggie stew, which was the only thing I liked. The alfajores weren’t bad because they were non-traditional: usually they are super thick cookies with gobs of dulce de leche. These were thin like crackers and I made mine with marmalade. The empanadas had no flavor even though we put in a lot of spicy pepper. The tortitas were bread. Boring. Flan is disgusting to begin with; this was no different.

It was still fun to cook with some friends and we got to keep the aprons, which means that I can stay clean while cooking in my Sophia Gordon apartment!