In the moment on writing, I’m eating the most delicious popcorn of the Middle East. It’s quite a big bag, and it was all for free… by mistake.

OK, so we went to the local supermarket in Siirt. All hungry for popcorn. I always am. I had spot the popcorn MACHINE earlier the same day and insisted purposefully on coming with Robin when he was going for some drinks. All I could think of was popcorn.

We entered the supermarket and I walked straight up to the red, shining, beautiful machine with a sign saying “2.75 TL/1 kg”.

“Hi, I’d like some popcorn”, I said, pointing to the fluffy little creatures (I know “creatures” is not the proper definition of popcorn but they seemed so alive), longing to get squeezed between my eager teeth.

The young girl in charge of the popcorns ran away to bring some plastic cups. Like regular drinking cups, holding top 2 deciliters.
“No no no!” I said, “I want more. MORE!”, waving my hands impatiently trying to show that I wanted to buy at least a full bag. It seemed ridiculous to buy like 20 cups! How would I even carry them?

“Here, this is good”, I said and took a plastic bag from the bulk section for nuts and dry fruit. “Fill it up! I want a lot!”
The girl looked a bit insecure, but obeyed my order and started filling the bag.
“More, more!” I inflamed as she was going to stop. “Come on, fill it!”

Robin turned up from behind with his drinks, and I think we saw it exactly at the same time. I was SO embarrassed. The popcorn were not for sale. The machine was there as a sample taste, and the price was meant for buying a 1 kg bag of corns! One free cup per customer, not more. And I had managed to make that poor girl fill a whole bag for me, which I got from a different section in the supermarket!

As we left the store, I felt happy we’re about to leave the country. Sorry I made it harder for future tourists to get free sample tastes in South East Turkey. Really sorry.