Leaving Taiwan - Last thoughts....

hello!
Just wanted to quickly compile some interesting last-thoughts about my travels and internship in Taiwan.  Without further ado, here is some top 5 quickies for you ~~

Top 5 best foods:
1. Scrambled eggs and tomatoes over rice (or noodles) -- a simple dish that even I have made!  this will continually be my favorite thing to eat.  I don't really know why, because it's nothing special.....but soooo tasty
2. 剉冰 (cuo4bing1) -- shaved ice with fruit (like fresh mango) and coconut milk (or condensed milk).  This can't be beaten in Taiwan's summer. I eat mine like lightning.
3. 豆花 (dou1hua1) -- soybean milk pudding with a syrup and other goodies. delicious and taiwan-style. I'm attracted to sweet things.....
4. 猪跟 (zhu1gen1） -- shaved pigs heel with cilantro and some salts....
5. 蛤金格面汤 （ge1jin1ge2mian4tang1) -- clam and ginger noodle soup, mmmm! the clams are fun to eat, too!
 

Top 5 best places:
1. 九分 Jiufen-- <3  want to return....and ascend their mountain.....
2. 背投图书馆 Beitou Library --- the architecture is old, wooden, and relaxing. 
3. 剥皮了 Bopiliao - One of Taipei's oldest streets, Bopiliao has seen masses come and go, and it still remains.  It smells like damp wood......
4. 十分 Shifen-- who can resist all those lanterns???
5. 士林夜市 Shilin Night Market -- a little materialistic, but I do like to browse through all the cute objects

Top 5 activities:
1. making mochi balls for the ghost festival and talking with all the volunteers!
2. going to the 88 floods remembrance and seeing the president of Taiwan　(how neat is that??!)
3. practicing Chinese with my coworkers (this was a lot of fun -- trying to explain phrases or words)
4. walking around Beitou and the hot springs.  We went to "thermal valley" where the water is so hot you would receive some 2nd or 3rd degree burns!  But it looked gorgeous with billows of steam around the green foliage....
5. taking the Green 9 bus back to the IHouse.  This small, often cramped, bus that again and again defeated the mountainside with sharp turns always made for interesting nightly returns........and conversations!

Top 5 unfortunate happenings:
1. mistaking $600 for $200 by mishearing and being too stubborn and embarressed to not buy a shirt.....
2. having a 6 hour delay at the San Fran airport =(
3. asking a ladｙ on the the street (who was selling bread (mianbao)) how much her noodles (mian) cost.....oops....
4. having to kill a cockroach at 3 am in my room.....
5. not getting to go in the hot springs at beitou (my coworker wasn't feeling well, so I bailed out as well....)

Top 5 reasons why I don't want to leave Taiwan, and why you should come! :
1. the food
2. the really really nice people
3. the cheap prices
4. the food.....
5. the aethetic, natural fauna - everywhere.

<3
to be continued......but in Shanghai!
(thank you everyone, for bearing with me.....)