left handed

we were talking about shops that sell only stuff for left handed persons.
this reminded me of an elderly lady I met in a train from Irkutsk to Ulan Ude. She was very old and spoke only Russian. Her behavior was a mixture of acting shy and being curious. She didn't talk to me at all but watched me all the time.
when I started writing my diary she started smiling and touching my hand. first I was not sure why she acted like that but then I realised that she was astonished by the fact that I used my left hand to write.