Book excerpt: Managing two kids like a pop star manager in East Germany

Estonian author Kristiina Oelsner shares a candid excerpt from her new book 'Minu (Ida-)Saksamaa', published by Petrone Print. The passage captures the exhaustion of parenthood, comparing raising two small children to managing two high-maintenance pop stars.

In a new book from Estonian publisher Petrone Print, author Kristiina Oelsner offers an intimate and often humorous look at life abroad. The book, titled 'Minu (Ida-)Saksamaa' — roughly translated as 'My (East) Germany' — draws on personal experience to explore the challenges of raising a family far from home.

In the opening excerpt, Oelsner paints a vivid picture of parental fatigue: sinking into the couch after a long day, feeling breadcrumbs through her trousers, while her daughter Elli has just completed her sixteenth day at kindergarten and little Juss naps on the balcony. «At night I often feel like I'm the manager of two incredibly attention-hungry pop stars,» she writes.

The book blends everyday domestic life with reflections on living in East Germany, offering Estonian readers a window into both the universal experience of parenthood and the particular textures of life in a foreign country. Petrone Print is known for publishing personal travel and memoir writing by Estonian authors.