More exploring and another company meal

Similar to yesterday morning, I woke up well before the sunrise. I don’t normally sleep in, but now I can’t sleep in past 6:00 am.

I had free time this morning so after doing my pull-ups in the park, I set out to explore Fussa on my bike. I first stopped by Marufuji, a local grocery store to get some snacks.

This time I went towards the air force base. Even in Fussa city – away from the air force base – it’s not uncommon to see Americans. I’m getting to the point where I don’t think twice about it. I probably don’t stick out as much as I would near the office.

I headed south-east on Base Road (as it’s called) until I found a bagel shop I read about prior to arriving in Japan.

I ordered a whole wheat bagel with blueberry cream cheese and a strawberry crepe. I connected to the free wi-fi and caught up on American news while enjoying my non-Japanese breakfast.

The restaurant also let’s you pay in US dollars due to the large American influence.

There’s a number of other western style restaurants and shops along this road that I’ll have to check out later. On a side note, I’ve noticed not many places (including grocery stores) open before 9 am.

I stopped by a pharmacy store very similar to CVS and picked up what is definitely shaving cream and most likely face wash. I still need to get contact solution, but I might wait until I run low on the one I packed first.

At 3:00 pm, I went to my manager’s house for a meal with two other coworkers. He picked me up in his car. Every time I enter a car here I try to do it on the right side which in Japan is the driver’s side. The person driving just kind of stops and stares at me for a while until I realize I’m trying to get into the driver’s seat. Typical American. On top of this, I have a bad habit of looking the wrong way when about to cross a road, but it’s something I’m getting better at.

The meal was great. His wife prepared a ton of food for us including everything from dumplings, fresh fruit, cheese, shrimp/crawfish, and pizza. I played with their dog, a cocker spaniel, who sadly doesn’t know any English but does recognize the gesture for paw. The meal lasted for 4 hours. Sorry, but no pictures.

When I returned home, I fell asleep early again as usual. Tomorrow is my first day of work and (Takahiko) Sato-san is meeting me in front of my apartment at 8:00 am to bike to work together so I don’t get lost.