you explore the map, you talk to people, you clean up your garden, you figure things out. there's a lot of things to do and while there is some limitation on the order to do them, that's part of the figuring out. you did explore the east side but there's a lot more :p
-"I don't know if it's intentional or not, but time isn't passing" phan says three in-game days later than the start, going through multiple day and night cycles