'The world that created me, the world that I created' Anyway, this is the seventy-second story in the series.
This is also the first essay by Shin Hyun-ho, who works at a multinational company in Manhattan, New York and contributes to various domestic media outlets.
This book, where the New York we know and the New York we don't know are intertwined to form a single map, is filled with fascinating stories of New York, gleaned from the perspective of a traveler and the sensibilities of a resident.

Part 1, "Lost in New York," contains various stories about the author's experiences from the moment he first arrived in New York City to the time he was adjusting to life in an unfamiliar city.
Living as a foreigner, experiencing differences in language, food, and way of thinking, makes us think anew about the formlessness of our lives.

Part 2, "Finding Your Way in New York," showcases the city's history and culture, focusing on relatively well-known locations, food, and art in New York.
Above all, it includes hidden spots that New Yorkers love to visit, providing useful information for those dreaming of a trip to New York.

The author says:
“It’s pretty cool to get lost in New York,” he said.
As you wander through New York City, a city with so much to see and enjoy, like reading a complex map with countless paths branching out, you will encounter the story of an individual's growth amidst diverse races and cultures.

At one time, Seoul was clearly the wrong answer for me.
But it was only after I left that I was able to truly love Seoul and realize that there were other versions of the right answer there too.
When I leave New York in the distant future, I will miss this place in the same way.
---p.8

At the airport, there are departures and returns, meetings and partings, waiting and emptiness.
Of course, these kinds of feelings exist everywhere in the world.
However, it is not distributed homogeneously everywhere.
Some emotions are more intense in certain places.
The airport is a place where love, longing, excitement, the relief of returning to the city I belong to, and the joy of seeing someone I've longed to see again are all concentrated.

---p.24

Many New Yorkers I've met have talked about luck as a habit.
The word luck makes personal and special situations universal.
As if arriving here was part of cosmic providence, a predetermined fate.
And in a city like New York, survival is a serious issue.
Surviving in the vast, unstable, sensitive and cold New York City takes a lot of luck.
New York may be a city for fatalists who believe their luck is theirs.

---p.36

When I first came to New York, H Mart had a slightly more affectionate name, 'Hanareum Mart', and it wasn't as large as it is now.
Just seeing things like pork belly, side dishes like dried radish greens and stir-fried squid, and packaged kimchi that you can't find at American grocery stores made life in a foreign country much more bearable.
Now it's hard to imagine immigrant life without H Mart.
When you hear someone moving to a city in the US, the biggest worry you might have is probably, "There's no H Mart there."

---p.65

Often, my soul leaves my body and I become an omniscient being, and I find myself speaking in elementary school-like sentences in a meeting where others are fiercely exchanging opinions.
The more fluent my native language was, the more pathetic my English sentences seemed.
You have to ignore this foolish side of yourself to be able to endure life abroad.
You have to endure a state of awkwardness, or, to put it nicely, childishness, for several years, or even decades, until you become sufficiently comfortable with the new language.
It's not an easy task unless you're quite optimistic or dull.

---p.75

“If you ever get tired of New Yorkers, you can always go to Times Square.
“There are no New Yorkers there,” my friend cynically joked at the entrance to Times Square.
We were looking out the window of a taxi speeding down 42nd Street across Midtown.
Just as the British are constantly joking about British food, New Yorkers are joking about Times Square (every city needs a joke like that).

---p.117

Travelers, immigrants and native New Yorkers mingle on the street, eating $8 Muslim food.
In this landscape, everyone becomes a piece of the vast mosaic that is New York.
No matter how much I think about it, I can't think of a more accurate way to describe the city of New York than this scene.

---p.149

Jazz is irregular, improvisational, and intellectual.
Harmony and chord progressions always defy our expectations.
It is free, not afraid of fusion with other genres, and expands infinitely.
This music resembles the city of New York.
In that sense, the development of jazz in New York feels like a natural causal relationship.
I think about it every time I open the door and descend the fifteen steps of the old jazz club that has stood in the same spot between a pizza place and a laundromat on Seventh Avenue for most of the last century.
I, who currently live in New York, may be a witness to a scene from jazz history.
---pp.186-187

The comfort I feel in the city of New York is actually similar.
There is a fear that they will never be able to take root in American society and become part of the New York mainstream, but there is also a sense of security in being on the fringes.
The warmth that is neither hot nor cold is created by the appropriate amount of indifference given to me.
My Christmas will never be the same as theirs, but New York is such a diverse city that I feel reassured that somewhere out there, someone like me will be there.
And places where you can encounter such people at any time.

---p.192