산정스포렉스

산정스포렉스 (aka SanJeong Sporex) is a fitness center right in front of 중앙하이츠 (aka JungAng Heights) in Old Mokpo and it's a pretty decent gym even by North American standards. It has the usual fare of treadmills, exercise bikes, weight machines, free weights, and (a real selling point for me) a swimming pool. But it also has the usual fare of Korean accessories:

Loud N-R-G Music
It's a safe stereotype to make that Koreans enjoy cranking up the volume in their daily activities:

The city here is like a giant amusment park without any rides. Lights are flashing at you from every direction, there 101 different pop-and techno-music songs always within earshot, and billboards assault your English skills with strange slogans like "Happy Awesome 100" or "Ace Perfect". It's never really wrong, it just feels so far from being right.

While places like grocery store will probably have the same repeating mix of top 10 k-pop hits, all gyms are regulated to have loud techno music turned up to eleven. I don't know why but SanJeong is no exception.

Televisions
I could really enjoy the TVs if it wasn't for the lack of ear buds. In SanJeong there's a good collection of 20 or so treadmills lined up all along the windows on the second floor and in front of each treadmill is a decent flat screen television. It's even better than other fancy fitness centers since we get our own personal TV. But Korea (and yes I mean the country) doesn't believe in earphones and FM transmitting technology so the only way to hear the TV is to over-crank the volume past the eleven-dialed techno music resulting in the perfect metaphor for Korea's work harder, not smarter mentality.

Vibrators
Foreigners are often confused about certain aspects of Korean society. We think that either they're so backwards that they're stuck in 1950s America or they're so frickin ahead of us that their minds have literally evolved to a point beyond our comprehension. Using vibration machines for exercise is one of these contradictions and SanJeong has both old and new school body vibrators. Now, the academic opinion is that vibrationizing is a just a fad exercise that is coming back for another round but at SanJeong theses machines are right next to the massage machines. So I guess the Korean see the value of a jiggling rubber band tied around your waist as a relaxing Swedish massage chop. Westerners have other ways of recognizing their value:

Anonymous HIV testing in Mokpo

Via waygook.org the closest anonymous HIV testing in Mokpo is in Gwangju. An interesting note from that thread is that if you are identitifed as HIV positive you will be deported within 2 weeks. That idea is being challeneged as an assault on human right in one court case:

The commission last week submitted its opinion to the Seoul Administrative Court, which will rule on his petition against the order. "The HIV virus is not transmissible through normal contact. Living together with his family members here, the plaintiff can get active and voluntary treatment, meaning that the possibility of HIV infection by him is extremely low," the human rights watchdog said in a statement."Because of the situation in China - where such people are quarantined, and only rudimentary human rights protection exists for HIV patients - deporting him could adversely affect his health and life. By international human rights standards, such an order is excessive."

While the case is so specific to China it could set a precendent, one that may have a disastrous side side effects:

The Korea Federation for HIV/AID Prevention said the deportation could have side effects. "It could drive more foreign HIV positive people to hide their illness fearing deportation,'' its spokesman said

Of course cases like these, as unfortunate as they are, are common throughout the world. The issue of deportation (or at least refusal of entry) based on HIV screening is also common in most countries and Korea is not alone in automatic explusion:

United States of America
In principle, the USA refuses entry to foreign nationals known to be HIV positive. In exceptional cases, a stay of 30 days may be granted (for family visits, medical treatment, business travel or participation in a scientific, health-related conference).
HIV testing or a medical exam are not required. In the visa application form, the applicant has to say if he/she has a “communicable disease of public health significance”. The visa will be denied if this is the case. An applicant who answers “no” despite better knowledge commits an immigration fraud, which leads to immigration prohibition. HIV-positive foreign nationals lose their right to remain in the USA and are expelled if their status becomes known.

Fat Korean Kids

For the past couple of years there's been an increase in high stress and American food in Asian teens and it's not good. Basically the Korean kids are getting fatter:

During high school over-indulgence in hamburgers, hot dogs, cola, and other high-calorie fast foods and sodas is frequent but there is another result. A person from the Ministry of Education said, “this can also be accounted for by the fact that as students progress through high school they are trapped in the competition to enter college and they find it difficult to get enough exercise.”