After work I decided to head to Shin Matsudo, a small-ish stop on the Joban line. I had planned to get some Wendy's for dinner but alas it wasn't there anymore... Ah well.
Shin Matsudo has a lot of memories for me. It was one of the first places where I worked in Japan, but even though I only was going there off and on for a year, future work and other events keep bringing me back.
My first year in Japan I worked as an ALT on the JET program. At the time there was a huge shortage of native English teachers in my area, so I was sent here and there to fill the gaps in local schools. I went to a different junior high school every month, a high school on Tuesdays, and two elementary schools every few weeks.
It was hard as hell keeping track of my schedule, but I loved that job. In 3 years I went to 22 different schools and I got to meet a lot of great people. It was also a great way for me to learn the ins and outs of the train system in Chiba and Tokyo, and fed my love of travel in a big way.
Years later I got a job working at NOVA just before the shit hit the fan, and by strange coincidence I was placed in almost the same area I'd been working in before.
My best times at NOVA were definitely had at the Shin Matsudo branch (which was located in the building in the pic above). The friends I met there were truly amazing people, and I can say without exaggeration or hesitation that I wouldn't trade those memories or that time for anything. And I also saw and had a lot of weird shit happen to me then. Ask me about the pee shoes story some time. :)
Shin Matsudo was also where I went when I got sick, really sick, for the first time in my life. I'd had odd stomach pains from time to time for months, but it came to a head in the middle of a private lesson. Suddenly this stabbing pain hit me - it felt like someone had shoved a hose into my guts and had pumped me full of acid. It hurt so much I couldn't understand anything anyone said to me.
Leaving work, I hobbled down to the station and got on the train and all I could think was that there was a huge-ass hospital in Shin Matsudo where I'd gone to get a checkup years before (the last pic).
It turned out to be gallstones (yes, I got gallstones at age 26 - a word of warning to parents who think feeding their kids chicken nuggets and burgers every day is OK), and I ended up staying there for the surgery and recovery. At the time, especially before my surgery it was hell. And the morning after was absolute misery.
All I can really remember is waking up afterwards to see my girlfriend's comforting smile, and waking again later to sit in misery for hours as my medication ran dry and all hands were occupied trying to save an old man who'd gone into cardiac arrest. I swear they were at him for over a half hour, but by God they saved him. It was insane. At one moment I was in so much pain I asked a nurse if she'd hit me over the head with a mallet to knock me out. Strange what you remember.
But in the end the hospital stay too was actually really nice. I'm so glad that I wasn't just shipped out the day after they cut me open. I owe that, of course to the Japanese state health care system (yes, it does work when done right; disbelievers can go to hell).
I have a lot of other stories about the area I could share, but I'll call it a day for now.
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