I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not a serial tv watcher, especially not when it comes to cheesy soap operas.  So when my roommate Katie told me and Vicky that we should try watching Meteor Garden (one of the most popular Taiwanese soap operas to date), I was very hesitant.  But hey, it might help my Chinese a little.  After hearing her and one other girl in our group gushing about this show, I decided to give it a try.  I blame it entirely for my lack of blogging over the past week.  

After one episode, I was hooked. Its a modern Cinderella-type story about the tumultuous romantic relationship between a poor, common girl and a snobby rich boy.  

Quick summary:  The boy, Daoming Si comes from one of the 4 richest families in Taipei.  He and the boys from the remaining 3 rich families make a ‘gang’ called F4.  (These guys actually tried out a music career under the name F4, I suggest you look them up as well. And check out this sweet music video.  Think Asian Backstreet Boys, but WAAAAY cooler) 

Ok, so F4 is this cocky rich gang that rules the University in Taipei.  Everyone fears them, admires them, wants to be them, or wants to date them.  They get in fights all the time, and always win, of course; drink continuously, and spend ridiculous amounts of money.   They wear amazingly tight, multicolored outfits quite often, all while sporting incredibly great hairstyles.  They’re badass, plain and simple.   One of the members, Meizuo, is an American who speaks fluent English and Mandarin.  Apparently he wasn’t making it big in American showbiz land, so he turned to his roots and it worked out pretty darn well.  One of the best parts of the show is the random English he throws in every now and then.  Like when he tries to act cool at the bar and says, “Bartender, I’ll have a gin tonic and vodka, straight up” and then continues on with his conversation in Chinese.  Its awesome because I’ll be reading and reading and reading the subtitles, then for a split second, I know what’s going on.  You’d have to hear it to really appreciate it.

The girl, Shanzai, is a plain-jane with attitude and is the only person in the whole school to stand up to F4.  The rest of the show you’ll have to experience for yourself, but get excited for kidnappings, brawls, love polygons, lots of debauchery, and NO SEX! Imagine that! a soap opera where people’s clothes aren’t flying off left and right!  

As I said, after one episode I was done for.  It was like opening a can of Pringles.  I literally stayed in my room for hours, sacrificing food and sleep, to finish all 27 40-minute episodes.  I’m afraid this might have started a trend of serial Asian-soap-opera-watching.  But I’m planning on using the excuse that I’ll learn a lot of Chinese by simply listening.  Its like full-immersion via television.  Works for me!