왔습니다...제가 대신 올려드립니다. 얼렁 일 끝마치고 번역해 올리죠~~
Hello Everyone.
This is Nokcha, again from Chicago.
Sorry about writing in English, but I still can't find Korean font around the school. ^^

Ok. I'll tell you a little bit about what I'm doing and how I'm doing these days.
First of all, I bought a bike! haha. and the rest came with the happiness.
I bought "Specialized"'s "Hardrock". I'm sure that you folks are not
familiar with that bike.
It's the bottom line of the Specialized. And since it was 99' model, I
bought it with $240. (originally about 350 dollars, I think.) Yes, it is close to "Mak Ja Jun Guh^^" but I like it very much.
You know that I always wanted a RED bike. hahaha. It's very pretty. It doesn't have a shock, but the rigid chock actually is very cool to ride with around the city. For example, it's really easy to do trials like "Standing" and "Jack knife". And I can go faster than how I used to with the old rusty RST shock. haha. Anyways, I'm very pleased with the bike. It's not good for mountain maybe, but just getting around the town, school, and gallery is fine.

Ok. enough about my new bike.
I went out for a ride yesterday. I took the LAKE FRONT BIKE RODE (you can imagine HAN-GANG bike road, but just beside a lake which is as big as South Korea) to the Uptown. It's a very well made rode. The mayor really like cycling, and devote alot of money and time in to the rode. The cool air breeze and the scent of the lake was just as beautiful and Han Gang. There were mostly
Road-bikers, and E bikers (the bike that you sit and pedal) and roller skaters. But! there were one of those old folks with full suspension bike (like the wanna-be bikers in Korea with high-end bikes) just crusing down there. It was actually fun to watch them. Most of the bikes were TREK (TREK is so cheap here!) and some Specialized, very little Giant and other non-Ameircan brands that are popular in Korea. After looking at other people's bikes, the lake, and of course, the jogging girls in bikini!!! (The one thing different from Hang Gang is...that there are alot more than bikes to see! hahaha) Ok. I'll stop being a jerk for now. And alot of cool buildings of Chicago.
When I arrived in Argyle street, I got out of the Lake front road, and went to the Clark street, to taste some Vietnamese noodles. It was very good, except that I had some hard time getting used to the Mint smell. and then I went to this "Traveler's Cafe". The cafe was full of Indian stuffs, and the waiters were cool too. But, I noticed that there is no woman! It was full of man!
I assume that it was a gay cafe. But oh well. I enjoyed the Smoothies, so it
was cool. After resting in the place, I visited the Aiko's paper shop (a Japanese paper shop), Dr Wax's Used CD shop (lots of rock, hip hop used CDs) and as I came closer to the down town I saw these huge numbers of people. It was the day of baseball game, Chicago cups VS LA dodgers! They sold the black tickets, but I wasn't as crazy about it to pay $200. I had my long day, just
cruising around the city, and the "Gwang Gwang bike" was actually fun, even without you cool WILDBIKE hyung nim dul. haha.

And the today, I biked around the Downtown, where I live. I live in the 162 North State Street, which is like just in the center of everything. I saw
Marc Chagall's wall mosaic, and Picasso's sculpture. god! I love the city! and went shopping for underwears and bunch of stuffs. There are alot of "city bikers' here. It's the same in New York too. Riders with Walki-Talkis and heavy locks race like crazy bulls. And it's amazing how the car drivers and bike riders cooperate together. The city has very specific laws about bike riding in
the city. and everyone seems to follow that. Riders are supposed to ride in the right part of the road, but not too close to the parked cars. and cars have to give the far right lane for the bikes in most situations. It sounded and seemed very dangerous at first, but indeed it actually is very safe! and the city has a map for bikers too. I think Seoul is far from becoming a paradise for bikers. Ah! also, we can take upto two bikes in the subway, but the rule is different in the weekends. (MIRU nim, I'll write something more specific about the rules of Subways when I learn more about it. and Holic nim, please post it like Washington Nim's essay about Washinton's subway. haha) And, another thing is the Bike Police. They either ride Cannondale's full shock bike, or Mongoose's . They aren't too young, and I haven't seen them doing funky
stuffs yet. But they do ride bike around the city, as their job. I think I'll interview one of them sometime, and post it up for WIldbike. (But. oh, men. I need that Korean font first!!!)

Ok. that sounds enough for the day. Oh. I was planning to buy Cannondale's F700 or F 900, or KHS's comp st soft tail. It's so cheap here. Or... it's just way to expensive in Korea. However, My room mate came in yesterday, and he had the DJing equipment. Damn those things are cool! So, I might want to play with DJ equipment with the thousand dollars. Haha. (MIRU nim~ don't kill me please~ haha) But the reality is, my parent's don't think neither is necessary for now. HAHA.

You can see that I'm enjoying my life here. right? . It's very different
from where I used to live in California. I didn't bike much there either, so everything's a little different. And I'm so excited to begin studying Art History and draw! The staffs are so cool. Maybe, I'll forget all about bike, once the school starts. But it's Ok. Because I'm doing what I love the most. (MIRU nim's philosophy. haha) The only problem I have right now are... I'm just missing Korean foods (oh~ Sam Gyup Sal and SOJU~ eheheheh~), Korean font in the computer, and I have so many pictures I took of all the things and places I mentioned today, but I can't use my MAC yet, so you will have to wait few more days to see them. Other than that, I'm very happy these days. ^_^

I could only read Bikeholic nim's reply last time, so if you want to reply,
please write in English~ ii ruh keh ra do yo~ haha. Or, make a jpg image of the writing (that's actually what I'm trying to do. Write on paper in Korean, and scan it!) Anyways, I miss all of you Wildbikers~ and hope yout the best luck. Just stay un-hurt, and ride as much as you want before it gets cold.
haha.
Sincerely,

Nokcha from Chicago

(Miru nim or Holic nim. There's a really good "MTB maintenance book". It teaches how to keep you bike nice and cool, and alot of upgrade mechanical techniques. If you are interested, I'll send it to you for WIldbike's use. and I can purchase some magazines for you. and the Shops have old magazines for cheap price too. and there are alot of cool fall jerseys for sale..so, just contact me if you are interested.^.^)