My FinlandAlone Among Your Own
Kaja, who knew two words in Finnish (terve and guudbai), ended up as a visiting lecturer at the University of Jyväskylä on the invitation of one of their professors. Things snowballed from there, though. The land of a thousand lakes had captured Kaja, and six months turned into X years.
“We have all these fixed stereotypes of our neighbors in our heads, but how much do we really know about what Finland and the Finnish people living there are like?” Kaja asks. In this book, she shares her experiences and impressions of Estonia’s northern neighbors: their temperamental nature, their backwards humor, their frugal way of thinking, and their big hearts.
My AustraliaHow I Exchanged Money for Time
A blind possum is walking on the electrical wires like a cat, koalas that look like stuffed toys are munching on eucalyptus in the trees, and fast little geckos are whistling their tunes on the walls of the living room. The streetscape looks like a godless multicultural soup and English can be heard in an incredible array of accents.
Australia, land of dreams.
In Estonia, it seemed like I had it all, but my soul was restless. In the end, I left to go look for that dream of mine. I had a conversation with a red kangaroo friend, two meters tall, about Australian dreams and sped through thousands of kilometers of desert in giant trucks. I hauled pineapples and watermelons on a farm, sold lottery tickets in the city streets, and worked as a waitress, just like hundreds of other young Estonian world travelers. In the middle of all these adventures, I suddenly found what I had been looking for unbeknownst to myself.
Airi Ilisson-Cruz
My AmericaReports and Confessions
The book contains a selection of stories about the author’s life in New York published in her weblog and the Estonian media. There are stories about barbeques, weddings, fire escapes, tipping, September 11th, graveyards, amusement parks, weight watching, and much more.
My America 2Notes from the Land of Dreams
The author’s adventures and her adaption to life in America continue. Halloween paranoia, Thanksgiving traffic jams, Christmas lists, real estate searches, the ER, a nightclub, Misha from the laundromat, John with his ski cap, Inga with her broom, the mother-in-law with her home decorating ideas, and father-in-law with his five cell phones – and in the middle of this, an Estonian woman trying to find her way.
My AlaskaTraining Sled Dogs and Myself
She learns right there and then, in the midst of coastal range mountains where eagles fly and brownbears fish for salmon, that her restless soul isn’t necessarily a bad thing. She meets strangers who open their hearts to her, learns to work with hundreds of sled dogs (or is it the other way around?), starts to see the beauty and majesty surrounding her and most importantly, the change happens within: she learns to trust in herself.
Maria Kupinskaja
My SpainReaching Myself by Crossing the World
What happened to me was what usually happens in fairy tales: I went out into the world and I found myself. I did fall in love too, but love is just a motor. Of course, at first it wasn’t easy. There were failed attempts to get published, earning almost nothing as a barmaid and a dancer, which didn’t spare me from hunger, feeling like a stranger and coming to terms with that knowledge. On top of everything, your country of origin, your appearance, and your accent are something that automatically pin all kinds of suspicions on you in the eyes of the locals. Well, alright then! You just have to start building yourself and your identity up from scratch again.
Anna-Maria Penu
My ItalyThe Most Passionate and Chaotic
I’m sure that each one of us has an association when it comes to Italy, whether it is Italian football, fashion, or food. One thing is certain – this country doesn’t leave anyone cold. The covers of this book hide my Italy, my ordeals at the immigration office, falling in love with pesto and limoncello, relations in the academic world, and painful lessons about dinner etiquette. My Italy actually begins in Finland, moves from a gray dormitory room to the mysterious and colorful old city of Genoa, from there to the cliffs, fishing villages, olive groves, and pine nut forests of Northern Italy.
I don’t know yet where and how my Italy will end.
Kristiina Praakli
My IcelandA symphony of fire and ice
Iceland. This sparsely populated island far out in the Atlantic Ocean is probably the single most exotic location in Europe. Linguistically Iceland is like a refrigerator, where their Nordic language has been preserved in its most primeval form for thousands of years. The nature is also primeval and it is the most common reason why tourists go to Iceland, to look for clear mountain lakes, knee-high birch forests, and the rainbow colors of volcanic mud. Sometimes this nature is awe-inspiringly powerful – during earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, or killer snowstorms.
This book contains the experiences of a musician living in Iceland: his adventures with avalanches and sheep herds, swimming in underground rivers, bathing in the hot steam of a mountain, baking bread in the hot ground, and other stories. The author is part of a group of local Estonian music teachers called the ‘Estonian mafia’ that has come direct a number of Icelandic music schools.
My ParisHow to Survive in the Fashion Capital
Where did the Chanel wigs go? Why does an apartment owner in Paris want to see a tenant’s income declaration? What was my closet-sized attic apartment like? Where are the prestigious places to live in Paris? How are models chosen for a show? What is the real Parisienne like? What are the most interesting restaurants in Paris like? How much time does a Frenchman spend vacationing?
In this book you will find the answers to these questions and many more. This book is a fun anthropological study, with absurd situations as well as practical tips for survival, where I also share my observations on France, the French people, on Paris and Parisians. I provide a small inside look at the everyday life of Frenchmen, their particularities, habits and traditions. But this is also my personal story – about how I happened to arrive in this new environment and what I had to do to adapt here.
Urmas Väljaots
My ThailandA bunny in an endless summer
Mai Loog moved to Thailand 11 years ago. Together with a British boyfriend she met online, they chose this Orient’s land of smiles. Now Mai is single again, but still lives and works in Bangkok. The sensual and exotic surroundings of tropical Thailand have opened her up in a way that many childhood friends in Estonia considered bizarre at first. Why does Mai make music videos where she dances around in expensive lace lingerie or sparkling bikinis? How do Mai’s bunny ears fit with her PhD and the analysis of Thailand’s political situation she offers for the Estonian media? „I am a modern woman, I am a sex subject, and I enjoy it!” says Mai. She expands on this topic in the book.
My MoldovaIn the Poorest European Country as the Wife of a Diplomat
I don’t know how would it be possible to live in a country ignoring what is happening there. You do take things into your heart. Sooner or later this country becomes your homeland, too.
You will be worrying about how ordinary people are making their ends meet, what kind of education do children receive in schools where retired teachers earn extremely low wages and whether the young girls who are dreaming of rich Western boyfriends will be trafficked to slavery or not.
I found extremely lovely and dear people in Moldova and, at times, hostile and harsh system. It is indeed quite difficult to fall in love with Moldova right away – you will experience indifference and impoliteness on the streets and there are no breathtaking mountains or beautiful beaches to counterbalance the sad feeling.
But nevertheless I’m convinced that Moldova is worth of a friendly pat on the back: It’s time to rise!
My ArgentinaVolunteering in a Ghetto
A former business journalist leaves her comfortable life in Estonia and moves to Buenos Aires to work in a poor area of the city. The author relates how she fought cockroaches at a day care center and then ended up becoming the boss of international volunteers. How she met whales and penguins. How she couldn’t bring herself to interview cartoneros – people who make their living by going through others’ rubbish. How the relationships played out in a shared flat called “Fight Club”. But what surprised her the most when she returned to Estonia some 14 months later?
My Finno-Ugric World
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The year was 2003, the country Estonia. Great changes were blowing across this small land perched in the fringes of the north – a vote to join a union of European nations, a blizzard of Western consumerism, a feverish demand for real estate. Bankrolled by Scandinavian moneymen, it promised to draw a sheet over the corpse of the socialist economy and make everything shiny and new.
While Estonia pondered its fate as a new member of the glittering West, I wrestled with my own fate as a husband and father to be, at the age of 23. I had been drawn to northern Europe by its gem-like allure but now had to deal with the permanence of my decisions. I was being pulled apart, tugged back and forth between this land of forest people who were hard to be friend and the needs of my own big Italian-American family. As the days grew crushingly short and the polar night set in, a tense debate between destiny and free will stormed within me.
Was this what I had wanted?
Justin Petrone
My NepalFairy Tales from Himalaya
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My MongoliaA Book about Love
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My Morocco
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My Denmark
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My CanadaBeing an Estonian in the Maple Leaf country
A bulky envelope in the mailbox brings an unexpected change to our lives. Our stay in Sweden, where we had moved to avoid Tom’s possible recruitment to the Soviet Army, turns out to be quite brief. We find a new home in Canada that until now has been distant and unfamiliar, more like a country with vast white snowy fields and wild wolves, but in reality, it surprises us with its warmth and friendliness.
Canada has been sometimes referred to as invisible in the world, but this beautiful country has many exciting sides. Different nations who have found a new home in Canada keep their customs and traditions, forming a cultural mosaic with first nations and inuit. But what does it mean to be a child growing up in an immigrant family? How do my own daughters who were born in Canada feel – are they Canadians or Estonians? And what does it mean for us to move from an European monocultural Estonia to a place where people of different backgrounds live side by side just as in “Star Trek”?
My Columbia
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My London
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Reaching Myself by Crossing the World
It’s the new edition, with the epilogue and photos.
What happened to me was what usually happens in fairy tales: I went out into the world and I found myself. I did fall in love too, but love is just a motor. Of course, at first it wasn’t easy. There were failed attempts to get published, earning almost nothing as a barmaid and a dancer, which didn’t spare me from hunger, feeling like a stranger and coming to terms with that knowledge. On top of everything, your country of origin, your appearance, and your accent are something that automatically pin all kinds of suspicions on you in the eyes of the locals. Well, alright then! You just have to start building yourself and your identity up from scratch again.
Anna-Maria Penu
My America 2 / New edition, with the photos!Notes from the Land of Dreams
It’s the new edition, with the epilogue and the photos.
The author’s adventures and her adaption to life in America continue. Halloween paranoia, Thanksgiving traffic jams, Christmas lists, real estate searches, the ER, a nightclub, Misha from the laundromat, John with his ski cap, Inga with her broom, the mother-in-law with her home decorating ideas, and father-in-law with his five cell phones – and in the middle of this, an Estonian woman trying to find her way.
My Croatia
If you would like to get the overview of this book in English, please contact us at info@petroneprint.ee.
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