So I ended up taking this Shanghainese girl Maggie on a friendly date to hot pot, and then afterwards asked her if she wanted to go get some sheesha. Her eyes got really big. She asked me, “水烟？什么东西啊？从来都没有听过。” (Sheesha? What is that? I’ve never heard of such a thing).

We went to Barbarossa and she picked the peach-flavored sheesha, then cooed when the pipe was brought over. “Do I smoke this like a cigarette? Will I get high? is this addictive?” Everytime we had hung out previously she had played the whole “tough Shanghai chick” card, aloof and cocky, cigarette dangling from one finger and constantly patronizing with each bat of an eyelash. Suddenly, in the face of something she had never experienced before, the whole facade melted away and this little-kid type excitement came gushing out. It was pretty cute, when all was said and done.

On a side note, I’m impressed with how Barbarossa is still standing after all these years. One of the few bulwarks of the expat nightlife scene, to be sure.