Chapter 11 New York, New York

I admit, I love New York, right from the first sight. It was January 1994. On the second day after recording the 200th special program of "Zhengda Variety Show", I boarded a plane to the United States.The plane was delayed and it was midnight when we arrived in New York.A city of endless lights appeared beneath me, and the busy highway was full of closely connected moving dots of light, shuttling and criss-crossing, and the cheerful rhythm reminded me of an old song "New York, New York" , one of the lyrics is: "If you can succeed here, you can travel all over the world, because this is New York." My mouth was a little dry, and my young and competitive heart was beating.All the victories and defeats of the past have become irrelevant in front of this light. I will start again and find a place in the most prosperous city on earth.I'm still rather vague as to what exactly that location is, but that doesn't matter, what matters is: New York, here I come.

The immigration officer, who has always been described as hideous, looked through my documents, and his attitude was so kind that I relaxed my vigilance when I was in a state of war.Pointing to my admission letter, he said: "New York University is a good school (I studied at a private New York University when I came to the United States, and transferred to Columbia University, one of the famous 'Ivy League' schools after half a year). My son wants to go to this school, But the tuition is too expensive, and I can't afford it. So he went to the state university, where he studied well." He slapped a string of stencils, "Good luck! Welcome to America!" For a moment, I am reminded of the billboards on Chang'an Avenue that read "Welcome to Beijing" and the like.feel good.

I remember that not long before I left, a TV series had just been broadcast in China.The famous saying that New York is both heaven and hell has become the impression New York left on the whole of China.Pushing the luggage cart, I thought as I walked out with the crowd: The New York is hell metaphor is for people who have no financial security, no language, no skills.As for me, since I am a graduate student from a famous American university and I know English, I don’t need to work illegally to earn money, and I have a four-year professional background as a TV host. New York is certainly not hell for me.So, there is only one other possibility left.Such a simple reasoning startled me, as if the unknown city in front of me had already whispered in my ear the certain ending.I couldn't help but feel joy in my heart.

The people who came to pick me up at the airport were three friends who had never met before.I call them "friends" because they are friends of a friend of mine, entrusted with the service of the landowners.They have seen my show before, so they are not unfamiliar.After five minutes of being polite, I started talking and laughing loudly, which made me, a foreigner, feel very cordial. Just now I was overlooking the lights of New York on the Boeing 747, and in a blink of an eye, I was already in it.Warm orange or silver bright circles flashed by the side of the car, making the car flickering, just matching our jumping emotions.Driving on the century-old Brooklyn Bridge, I found that the most brilliant brilliance has been densely gathered in front of the car.When the ground couldn't be piled up, they squeezed into the sky, building up buildings of crystal clear light.That's Manhattan.

Excited, I asked this and that from time to time, and enthusiastically they talked about this and that from time to time. When they talked, they even talked endlessly: "The whole is from Mongolia. It seems that New York is a dramatic city with great joy and sorrow. Or repeat "New York is full of gold" and pick up some Hollywood routines. Who can find a job as soon as they arrive in the United States? Who says that hard work can make a fortune? Most of the people who work hard in Chinatown clothing factories are Fujian farmers who have illegally immigrated. Seeing intellectuals from big cities? Most of the owners of those small Chinese restaurants have accumulated money for nearly ten years before opening their own businesses, and the proprietresses are all in their forties. If you fancy you, you will be in trouble .”

They spoke impassionedly and fluently, and it was obvious that they had said the same thing to many people. It sounded funny, and I knew they were getting too serious about the details, but somehow I felt uneasy. Among the three of them is a girl who is about my age, named Zhao Wei, who is also studying at New York University.She said that before I found a place to live, I could live with her first. This is a red brick building facing the street, six or seven stories high.It is said that it is only a 20-minute walk from the school.The streets in the middle of the night were a bit deserted, and occasionally two or three people walked by hugging each other, but they were all men.Zhao Wei introduced that this area is called "Greenwich Village", where there are many artistic young people, and there are especially many homosexuals. "Don't worry, it's relatively safe for girls." She added a special sentence.

She lives on the second floor.When I opened the door, I saw that this was a large unit with four bedrooms and one living room. The entrance hall was very spacious, and the kitchen was not small and well-equipped.There's only one bathroom, but it's enough for two girls - I think so.I asked Zhao Wei how much rent I should pay a month, and she said, "We share it equally, two hundred and seventy-five dollars each." I was overjoyed, (because Wang Ji once told me that the rent of a one-bedroom unit in New York is more than one thousand dollars per month) and said: "It's so cheap! The housing prices in Beijing are probably higher than this. Which one is mine? Can I Can’t you put the luggage in the living room first, and pack it up tomorrow?” Zhao Wei hesitated for a moment, and said, “I’m afraid it won’t work in the living room, because it’s shared by eight of us.” “Eight people?” “Yes, a total of Four rooms, two people in each room, we share one room." I was stunned for a moment before I realized that I had misunderstood her just now.Zhao Wei also paused for a few seconds.She must be thinking: "Is this Yang Lan used to be a celebrity and doesn't pay the market price-there is no house as cheap as she thinks. Does she feel wronged because the place here is small?" I was afraid of her Thinking of this made me feel even more uneasy.So, I quickly said, "No, no, that's fine."

Her room is only about ten square meters - there are two beds with a simple bookshelf in between, and a desk.Just these things filled the room to the brim, and when I put the box in the corner, there was only room left for walking.For such a small room, the monthly rent of five hundred and fifty dollars is too expensive!I thought to myself: "There is no need to open the box, and there is no place to store things after moving them out." Probably seeing my embarrassment, Zhao Wei said consolingly: "Our conditions are not bad. More Chinese students can't afford to live in Manhattan. They can only live in Queens or Brooklyn, which is relatively cheap, or even live in areas with poor public security. In the Bronx, I take the subway for half an hour to go to school every day. Sometimes four or five people share a room like this.” I thanked her for her advice and nodded in agreement from time to time.

Before turning off the lights, she warned again: "The Hong Kong girl next door brings her boyfriend to live with her all day long, and he also uses the same bathroom. Besides, everyone rushes to wash up and go to school every morning, but the American girl on the left always takes a shower at that time." , it takes half an hour to wash. If you are too late, you can knock on the door to remind her, you are welcome. Oh, and, every night from 6:30 to 7:00 is the cooking time for the two of us. After 7:00, the kitchen will return Two Japanese girls used it." While ordering my tired brain to remember these details, I thought: "Such a unit really looks like a small United Nations. No wonder people say that New York is more like a melting pot of races." When I told Zhao Wei this idea, she said: "In fact, there is a newer theory that New York is more of a salad plate, a mix of people and ideas rather than a melting pot. Take this unit as an example. We each have our own schedules and rarely interact. It’s impossible to understand.”

I listened and fell asleep.But the jet lag soon kicked in, and in the darkness of a New York morning, I woke up, unable to sleep, and staring out the window at the faint moonlight.I thought to myself that all my impressions of New York were not correct enough, so there might not be any jokes in the future.What kind of city is New York?I'd better watch more and listen more, and talk less. The sky gradually turned pale.Only then did I see that there was a tree outside the window.The bare branches remind me of the tree in front of my parents' house, which is so deserted in winter.I don't know when it started snowing.Gradually, it got bigger and bigger, until it became thick like cotton wool, and it fell very quickly, as if making a rustling sound.And the sound of snow was quickly overwhelmed by the roar of police cars, the sound of car horns and the footsteps of pedestrians.I got a little excited, thinking of how many snowy mornings, my mother opened the curtains, and the sound of "it's snowing" was enough to make me, who loves to sleep late, get up quickly.Building snowmen and snowball fights are childhood tricks. As an adult, I just need to step on the soft snow and make a line of footprints on it, and I will be happy enough.At this moment, lying in the warm blanket, I can almost hear the creaking sound of myself walking on the snow.

Alert rings.seven thirty.Zhao Wei struggled to wake up.I immediately told her about the snow.She poked her head out of the window, and with a dejected expression on her face, she muttered, "It's snowing again, how annoying! Did you know that this is already the tenth snow this winter." I gave a sympathetic "oh", thinking that it must be inconvenient to go to school in a snowy day. I didn't know whether to cheer for the snow like Beijingers, or to get used to New Yorkers' unwelcoming attitude towards snow. My life in New York began on this snowy morning. Am I not just a Beijinger in New York?