Day 18: Ain't No Party Like a Ramen Party!

Day 18, or more precisely, including today I have 14 more bowls of ramen. So just 2 weeks left. Can't believe I have been eating ramen now for nearly 3 weeks! And surprisingly, I am still feeling chipper, I mean I know I wasn't yesterday but that was yesterday. Today is today. (Wise, wise words there. Guess what tomorrow is? You got it, tomorrow)

So after 17 days of ramen, am I tired of it? Yes...and no. See it has been fun, and people have never before been so interested in what I'm eating (Well, except for that one guy at uni, but he was creepy). Now people keep asking how eating ramen is going, if I'm sick of it or, the most surprising of all, can they eat with me.

Apparently, eating the same thing for days upon days makes people more interested in the food than ever before. I cant say I am any different, you tell me you are eating cow poo for a month and its not that bad it may make me curious by day 20..... may. So today I had a little posse, a friend who eats with me every week, her boyfriend who is visiting Japan, a friend from the town over and a Japanese friend of mine. (Not the man soup one, but if I'm honest I have onsened with him too)

Just proving that all gaijin (Foreigners) do know each other for the ramen workers

That's right, RAMEN PARTY! wooop. It was just as thrilling as it sounds, we all went to the ramen shop together, bought ramen and then ate it! And get this, when we weren't eating we talked! I know, I know, these are the kinds of parties that I used to sit at home and wish I was going to. Living the dream! Also, I got to show off my ramen knowledge (Not as impressive as real knowledge but still, I know more about ramen than you!). I described all the dishes and sides and how you can modify them etc. Even my japanese friend was impressed, actually I think only he was impressed.

My spot the differences are getting a little harder!

Friends means that now you can look at a group before and after picture. Exciting! Today I went for the kotteri-ramen (The thick one) and gyouza. Turns out yesterday was just another blip, I think I will lay off the miso ramen until I cannot bare to eat the other ramen. I also saw that there are 2 that i haven't tried yet that I will have to show you. I really enjoyed my ramen, maybe company helped to make it less monotonous and as I said, the noodles didn't taste of anything other than the delicious soup.

Hope you didn't actually think I was going to let you get away without one of these bad boys!

Mixed the order up today on the old before and after! Did I make the ramen? Did I actually buy the ramen without eating it? Did I make the picture wrong but was too lazy to fix it? So many questions, so little time.

Oh and I almost forgot my life goal I mentioned yesterday. As you can tell, I am an avid meat fan, and so I aim to eat as many animals as I can. I only have 1 caveats: No endangered species. The first one should be obvious, I mean if only the explorers of "the new world" could have not eaten so many delicious animals we could all try dodo and giant turtle. Of course however it is limited to animals that are treated well, I mean I would be up for trying dog if it were reared and treated well, not caged or beaten like I have seen in some documentaries about dog meat in other countries (No there is no dog meat in Japan, but there is dolphin and whale. Haven't and wont though)

The dog thing reminds me of a time I was working at a farmers market and there was a lot of talk about a new stall selling dog meat. I approached the owner and asked what he had, he described the breeds and different sausages. I asked him how much. This was followed by a "What?", I responded by asking again. "Oh.....well we aren't selling any dog, we are trying to promote vegetarianism by asking people if they would eat cow why wouldn't they eat dog....." "So no dog sausages then?" "No...." We both left disappointed that day.