Sun Day!

It's Sun Day today, a sunny Sunday indeed.  Temperature was as high as 17 degrees but because of sunshine it feels like 21 degrees, as reported by Accuweather.com.  Itinerary: Downtown Atsugi, lunch at some western fastfood joint, attend Mass, buy stuff for the home at the 100-Yen Store, and buy ready-to-eat freshly cooked dinner at discounted prices just before closing time at the supermarket.  % Completion: 100%.  Yay!

I was supposed to eat at McDonald's but when I got down at Hon-Atsugi (Central/Downtown Atsugi), the first place I saw was KFC.  I wondered where McDonald's was, later I found out I remembered its location wrong.  It was somewhere else, where upon seeing it now I remember!  The KFC here do not serve rice.  Awww.  But the food was good, like how KFC should be.  Their chicken fillet sandwich tastes better and is larger than the Manila counterpart.  Actually I didn't know it was their chicken fillet sandwich when I ordered, until I saw it!  They didn't provide any utensils so I'm not sure if I was supposed to eat the chicken with my hands.  I just used the paper napkins to hold the chicken.  It was a breast part.  I didn't really get to choose, but maybe it was the default with the meal/combo I ordered.

And then...  Mass!  Just last night I found out that there was a Catholic Church in Atsugi.  How very convenient.  As expected, lots of kababayans.  The priest was Caucasian, but apparently not American.  The music min and lector/commentator are Filipino.  We sung "Still" as a communion song and "My Life Is In You" as the last song.  Actually I'm considering joining the music min when I'm settled down.  They have practices Thursdays from 5:30-7:00pm.  Unfortunately I'm packed with lectures on Thursdays, and I think our official time-off is 5:30pm so I can't make it on time.  We'll see.  Hopefully I can join on the Thursday after next.

And then the 100-yen store.  I went to the one on the 3rd floor of Atsugi Trellis, where the supermarket is on the 1st floor.  Walang sinabi ang Daiso sa Philippines or Singapore; these 100-yen stores here in Japan are huge and has a huge collection of stuff.  I could've just bought my "lakwatsa"/travel bag here instead of buying one in the Philippines.  Generally cheaper here also - 105 yen for the basic items (5 yen for the tax), so roughly under 50 pesos only, compared with 88 pesos in the Philippines and around 66 pesos or more in Singapore.  Well this is where it started.

Last year when I first went to this same store, I just knew it was a 100-yen store from the sign, but I didn't understand the prices.  One would say 100 and 105, 200 and 210, and so on.  But I couldn't find the Yen sign that I'm familiar with (Y with double strikeouts).  The Japanese sign for the Yen is actually different from what we are all familiar with.  It's like a...  badminton net with one leg bent.  Get the picture?  Ehehe.  So now you know.  :-D

And I went again to the supermarket at around 7:20pm.  The freshly prepared food were 20% off already, but only a few choices left.  I picked up one sushi roll (actually a maki with cucumber, egg, tofu, mushrooms, and seaweeds in the inside) and one bunch of deep fried shrimps, similar to the ones they once offered at KFC in the Philippines.  It was like worth P16 per shrimp; not bad.  I got a couple of other food items, and when it was around 7:30pm when I heard an announcement.  When I was about to check out, I noticed the freshly-prepared food items are now 30% off!  But the stuff I got were the last ones so, no, it wasn't like I could've saved a few Yen more.  Phew!

Well that's about my day.  Using Skype again to chat with the love of my life.  Ja mata.

P.S. I hope to post photos soon.  By the way, I was able to buy this prepaid card called "PASMO" for use at buses, trains, and some stores, just like the EZ-Link card in Singapore.  And I was able to use it already when riding the bus.  Bus trip here by the way is roughly 80 pesos for a 10-minute trip, 117 pesos for a 15-minute trip.  Yikes!

P.P.S. I learned about the Atsugi Catholic Church by doing a search on Google, and then going to this site: http://catholicinjapan.wordpress.com/2008/01/10/atsugi-chruch/