What happens when you offer a free watermelon in Turkey

The beauty of travelling is that you have infinite options of what you can do with your time. Visit the touristic places, walk around the streets, eat some good food, hang out with people from the hostel or try something totally new.

Some years ago I met a Czech guy, Petr Krejčík, who always tried to do things differently (You can read more on his blog www.nestereo.cz – Czech language only). Somewhere he mentioned that he shared a watermelon at a student campus in the US.
From that moment on his idea got stuck in my head. Now when I’m travelling in Turkey it came to my mind again and I thought: ‘Hey, I can do the same here!

At the beginning I had to overcome the fear of stepping out of my comfort zone. What will people say about it? Will it be ok?

However, the curiosity was stronger and I decided to go for it.
Su Ji and I, we went to buy some tasty watermelon and also asked for an empty paper box. Then we were just walking towards the park for around 30 minutes. It felt strange – holding the fruit knowing that it will be offered to other people. At the same time, I really enjoyed the excitement of something unknown ahead of me.

The box was used in two ways – as a sign “FREE WATERMELONS” and as a small plate for cutting the watermelon.

I picked to stay next to a busy sidewalk so people could easily spot the sign and talk to us. Su Ji started making the videos. I couldn’t be more surprised!

WOW. People were laughing, smiling, some of them waved and many stepped closer to grab a piece of the delicious fruit. They took pictures with us and were curious where we came from. Plus, we got roses!

We sat there for around 1 hour and had a chance to speak with around 20 local people! Suddenly it was so easy – we were sharing food together. We were no strangers anymore.

What did I learn?

It takes really only a little effort to make many people happier! The more unusual thing you do, the more attention you can get. Furthermore, you can inspire other people to do the same. (Just like the Czech guy inspired me!)

Would you try something similar? Let me know! 🙂

Andrej Staš
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