Experiencing New York is like eating an apple. Tourists usually only see the bright red skin and taste the sweet and juicy flesh. Only by living in this city and nibbling all the way to the core can you appreciate this. The sweetness of a big apple is sour, so sour that it can even be unbearable.

This city is more than just the colorful and dazzling sight that outsiders see during their short stay. If it weren't for the blue-blooded aristocratic descendants of the Upper East Side, 99% of New Yorkers would actually be trying to survive behind the envious gazes of outsiders.

The average monthly rent in New York starts at US$800, and if you pay more attention to the quality of living and surrounding environment, it will cost around US$1,200. It is said that you can live in a castle at this price in the Midwest, but south of 96th Street in Manhattan, unless God is particularly kind, you may not even be able to rent a wardrobe. However, there are always people who are "very lucky" to be able to rent a wardrobe for 1,600. Meijin lives in the West Village or is a happy bird. Living in New York is difficult, so New Yorkers struggle with rent or mortgage payments every month.

When "Occupy Wall Street" pointed its finger at the one percent of the pyramid, little did they know that although the golden boys lived in luxury apartments in Tribeca or the Upper West Side, they worked twelve hours a day. The office is my home these days. For ordinary office workers who work eight hours, their salary is at the average level. While maintaining a moderate standard of living, their account at the end of the month will be clean. As for workers who do not fall into the above two categories, they are usually workers who serve the above two categories in this city.

But no matter what type of worker, everyone has to take the subway to commute. However, the monthly pass costs hundreds of dollars, but the trains are always delayed and rerouted, and there are always rats and urine on the platform. Driving is not very practical. You have to pay to go over bridges and tunnels, and the roads are bumpy and difficult to drive. If there is no traffic jam during peak hours, it is usually a festive season, and you will not be left alone in an empty city. Taxis are available everywhere, but when you need one urgently, either the driver will have already darkened his lights and left work, and will not take passengers, or some rude person will get there first. Although bicycles are fashionable and convenient, don't forget about the dirty air in the city center and other reckless driving.

That’s why Mayor Bill de Blasio called out during the campaign to narrow the gap between rich and poor and eliminate New York’s “Tale of Two Cities”. After all, ten dollars can buy a meal in the United States. If you can eat for twenty dollars in New York, you can't help but say, "It's so cheap!" Even though restaurants all over the city offer a variety of cuisines, few people can afford to pay at least thirty dollars for a meal every day. Common food options include pizza on the street for US$1, Middle Eastern chicken with rice at a food truck for US$6, or Chinese fast food restaurants in every neighborhood, where you can get a full plate of meat for US$7, but you have to eat fruits and vegetables. Eat a balanced diet and your expenses will jump to double digits in no time.

In addition, this city is too cold in winter and too hot in summer. It always looks forward to winter in summer and looks forward to summer in winter. In winter, when it freezes to minus 15 degrees Celsius, even one heater is not enough; it feels too dry when the heater is turned on, so a humidifier is needed.

Summer temperatures soar to 40 degrees Celsius, and it is so humid and hot that it is impossible not to install an air conditioner, but if you leave it on all summer long, your electricity bill will go through the roof. When encountering a snowstorm, everything from fur hats and coats to gloves and snow boots are indispensable. Walking on the street is like an obstacle course, jumping through snowdrifts and ice puddles; when a heat wave hits, vests, shorts, and flip-flops are essential, as well as Garbage and sewage accumulation on the roadside can be seen everywhere. After being exposed to the scorching sun, they become sour and smelly.

New Yorkers work hard and have fun seriously, but no one wants a restaurant or bar to open downstairs. In addition to the smell of barbecue and frying, which attracts "more" cockroaches and mice, there are also loud and laughing drinkers and A pipe that ignores the smell of smoke.

However, no matter how much you hide in a quiet alley, no one can escape the sirens of police cars, ambulances or fire trucks piercing the night sky, as well as the noise from the construction of roads and pipelines in front of their homes from time to time. , or which floor needs to be resurfaced and maintained.

In such a difficult environment, New Yorkers are naturally rude and fierce. It is common to argue with passers-by on the street. It is natural for street friends with stinky smells to ask you for money, and few store clerks are polite. Smiling, most of them even have a bad face, and a cold "How are you?" is just a formality, not really wanting to know whether you are good or not; the smile is definitely not from the heart, but I hope you can slip an extra one dollar bill into the tip. Buck, one US dollar per customer may be able to pay a month's Internet, mobile phone or electricity bills in one day.

So some people say that interpersonal interaction in New York is based on competition. No one surrenders to anyone, and no one abandons anyone. There is competition in the streets, life and death in the workplace, intrigues in love, because everyone is in this city. As a wandering stranger, no one can guarantee whether he will still be alive here next year. Even though every wandering soul is lonely, no one is willing to admit it on their own initiative. They rely solely on physical communication to keep each other warm.

My friend then said: "New York has everything, as long as you are rich." But when 99% of New Yorkers are not really "rich", when everyone who has ever felt When I came to this city as a different person but struggled to find that I was ordinary, New York became beautiful. Although the Big Apple is sweet and sour, it is also sour and sweet. Even if you are tired of this city and move away from home, the moment the plane lands at Kennedy Airport and the train stops at Grand Central Station, I still feel that it is great to be back in New York. After all, as long as In New York, everything is available and everything is good.