Hobbies of a Grandma. Heart of a Lion. Hear me roar. 

The Taxi driver’s intention was to frighten and bully me. He roared away from the train station in Yerevan at speed, grinding his gears as he went. I told him my destination, knowing it was about two kilometers  away. “Granny, it will cost 2000 dram” said the driver careening round a corner so fast that my suitcase, propped up on the back seat, slammed against me. Pinioned to the window, I protested. “It costs 1000”  I said. (It should probably cost 600 dram, but I am not an unreasonable woman–I always pay 1000).
“Granny the road is closed” he said, looking back at me, instead of at the road. It was nonsense of course.

Mind your nuts.

“Stop here” I said.
“Why?”
“Because I don’t have 2000 dram”
“Granny it is always 1500” he said
I laughed. “It is always 1000” I said.
We arrived at a landmark near my hostel and the car stopped with a screech.
“Not here” I said “ I want right and then right and then left and then right. I will tell you where to go and when to stop”
Reluctantly he jolted the car forward until we got to the narrow road that leads to to my hostel “Granny I am stopping here. There is no way out” he said even though I knew there was.
I got out of the car with an exaggerated slowness. I don’t like to be called a Granny, even though I am one. ‘Let him wait’ I thought. ‘This old Granny will take her time’.
I walked up a few steps and made sure to stop under the light outside my hostel door. I parked my suitcase and started to count out small coins to the value of 1000 dram. I waited until he was forced to get out of the car and walk toward me to get the money. I counted it out 10 dram, then 20 dram, then 50 dram until I reached 1000. “Me rope, me rope” I kept saying. “Give me a minute” he had no choice but to stand there on the street below me with his hand outstretched.

I am 57 years old and a U.S. Peace Corps volunteer in Armenia.  Most people here treat me with respect because I try to speak their language even though I am a foreigner;  because (ok, I admit it…)I am old; and because I am female. This bully thought he had more power than me because of my foreignness, age and gender.  In younger years I might have paid the odious creature the money he asked for, and shut up– just to be safe. Not any more. This granny is galvanized. I will fight ageism, sexism, exclusion and bullying wherever it finds me. Be warned.

Appearances. So often deceptive…