Kazan

I'm in Kazan, the capital of Tatarstan, a part of the Russian Federation. It's very pleasant here; the people are nice, the languages are great, and they have a really good local samsa.

Though it's now a bit colder, here are some pictures:



The Kol Sharif Mosque, built after the fall of the Soviet Union on the place where an older mosque had stood, before Ivan the Terrible had the latter torn down.



The Kazan Kremlin, which is just plain gorgeous.

Photos from the Last Six Weeks

This is the city of Aktau, wedged between the Kazakh desert and the Caspian. According to the Lonely Planet, it gets all its energy from a nuclear desalinization plant. Why not?

This is one of two churches perched above Lake Sevan in Armenia.


A fresco from Davit Gareja in Georgia. It survived not only the ravages of time, but also the more direct ravages of the Soviet Union using it for military exercises.

In Iowa

I'm currently in Iowa City, IA waiting to head to Kazan, Russia.

Though I retain a strong sense of Iowan-ness, I haven't really been home all that much recently, hence the name of this blog.

But I'm not really a native Iowan, so I'm not sure how appropriate it really is.

But an Iowan convert is probably the most devoted, so...