This is Randi Hacker with another Postcard from Asia from the KU Center for East Asian Studies.

In Japan, and China, and Korea, and Mongolia, when someone asks you what year you were born, they aren’t asking for an answer like, for example, 1951. They’re asking for an animal. More specifically, one of the twelve animals of the Chinese zodiac. And they are, in order of appearance: Rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog, and pig. The year of the horse begins on January 31st, 2014. Each animal returns on a twelve-year cycle, so every time you turn a multiple of twelve, it’s your animal year. A little shaky on those multiples of twelve? Let’s review. If you turn 12, 24, 36, 48, 60, 72, 84, 96, 108 next year… May the horse be with you.

From the KU Center for East Asian Studies, this is Randi Hacker. Wish you were here.

This is Randi Hacker with another Postcard from Asia from the KU Center for East Asian Studies.

Postcards from Asia has been on the air for nine years now. Time flies, doesn’t it? We’ve broadcast more than 300 glimpses of the quirkier aspects of life in China, Japan, Korea and Mongolia. Which is why we think it’s time to broaden our horizons – and yours. To that end, the Center for East Asia Studies will be joined by the Center for Global and International Studies, the Center of Latin American Studies, the Kansas African Studies Center and the Center for Russian, Eastern European and Eurasian Studies to bring you glimpses of some of the quirkier aspects of other world areas. Naturally, this means we can’t be called Postcards from Asia any longer so welcome to Postcards from Abroad. Now more than ever you will wish you were here.

From the KU Center for East Asian Studies, this is Randi Hacker. (I just said it.)

This is Randi Hacker with another Postcard from Abroad from the KU Center for East Asian Studies and the KU Center for Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies.

This year’s Sochi Olympics is going to break a number of records, and we’re not just talking about sports. During the Cold War, Sochi was a favorite Black Sea summer resort town for the Soviet elite. With its beaches and subtropical climate, Sochi is the warmest venue ever chosen for a Winter Olympics. The Sochi Olympics will also set the record for the most expensive – the final cost is expected to be 35 billion dollars more expensive than any other Olympics in history. Finally, with the violence-prone regions of Chechnya and Dagestan located just to the east, security at this year’s Olympics will be tighter than ever before. With all this in mind, maybe the Sochi Olympics official slogan “Hot. Cool. Yours.” should be “Hot. Overpriced. and Under Surveillance.”

With thanks to Adrienne Landry for this text, from the KU Center for East Asian Studies, this is Randi Hacker. Wish you were here.

This is Randi Hacker with another Postcard from Abroad from the KU Center for East Asian Studies and the Center for Global and International Studies.

Across the Arab world, people tune in to Arabs Got Talent. This season, audiences were taken by one particular singer. While other contestants performed western music, she sang a cover of Um Kulthoum, (oom kalsoom)a legendary Egyptian diva with a career that spanned 40 years. Kulthoum is known for her rhythmic complexity and emotional richness and is considered “the greatest female Arabic singer” ever. The contestant nailed it: passion, perfect pitch, and flawless pronunciation of complex microtones! Why is this such a big deal? Because the singer, Jennifer Grout, is an American who barely speaks Arabic that’s why. Though she didn’t win, she did place in the top three. So what’s next? Well, there’s always African click language if she wants a challenge. Africa’s Got Talent, here she comes!

With thanks to Jennifer Duhamel for this text, from the KU Center for East Asian Studies, this is Randi Hacker. Wish you were here.

This is Randi Hacker with another Postcard from Abroad from the KU Center for East Asian Studies and the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies.

Since her mystical manifestation in Mexico City in 1531, Our Lady of Guadalupe has become Mexico’s most popular religious and cultural image. During the Mexican War of Independence and the Mexican Revolution, flags emblazoned with her image led the armed forces. So, it’s no surprise that in today’s merchandise economy, her image is both omnipresent and highly marketable. Here’s proof: a grilled cheese sandwich with her likeness sold for $28,000 on eBay. Other Our Lady of Guadalupe products include cowboy boots, crib sheets, jackets, shoes, socks, soap, lunch boxes, belt buckles, aprons, pillows, pint glasses and even a t-shirt with her image in the familiar Starbucks logo that reads, “I like her a latte”. Viva la Virgen de Guadalupe: from revelation to revenue.

With thanks to Danika Swanson for the text, from the KU Center for East Asian Studies, this is Randi Hacker. Wish you were here.

This is Randi Hacker from the KU Center for East Asian Studies with another Postcard from Abroad from the Kansas African Studies Center.

Yes, it DOES snow here in Africa! Although we often think of African countries as hot, desert environments, some countries in Africa receive regular snowfall. While some equatorial African countries do have warm weather, things are different at higher elevations and farther from the equator. The peaks of the two tallest mountains in Africa, Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania and Mount Kenya in Kenya, are both covered with a layer of snow and ice year round. Not up for mountain climbing? No worries. There are other options for snowball fights here in Africa. Snow falls regularly in parts of Morocco, South Africa, and Lesotho and all three of these countries offer slopes for skiers to slalom and snowboarders to catch some big air. So, the next time you visit Africa, bundle up!

With thanks to Mackenzie Jones for this text, from the KU Center for East Asian Studies, this is Randi Hacker. Wish you were here.

This is Randi Hacker with another Postcard from Abroad from the KU Center for East Asian Studies.

Western visitors to Korea and Japan might agree to love the sites, but there might be less of a consensus on the food. Live octopus and red bean paste make the Western palette recoil, but wait! What’s that tucked between the goat cafe and that eatery offering fermented fish guts. Can it be a Pizza Hut? It can. But before you say extra cheese please know this, pizza like other fast foods here has been adapted to suit local tastes. The name might be familiar but the ingredients, not so much. The Idaho special pizza has everything from potatoes to spaghetti piled on top, and the mayo potato pizza from Dominos comes topped with potatoes, sausage, and corn all drippled with a sauce made out of mayonnaise. Can you say this is so not comfort food?

With thanks to Paula Li for this text, from the KU Center for East Asian Studies, this is Randi Hacker. Wish you were here.

This Randi Hacker with another Postcard from Abroad from the KU Center for East Asian Studies.

Ok, we can avoid it any longer, Dennis Rodman and his recent visit to his BFF Kim Jong Un. Kim, dynastic science slash totalitarian dictator is a great fan of basketball. This kind of sorta explains why a guy whose real age is unknown and who rarely meets with foreigners would not just meet Rodman, but embrace him. Rodman, former NBA player slash basketball diplomat, brought some net men to Pyongyang to face a North Korean team in the hopes he said, “Of opening the doors of friendship between the hermit nation and us the imperial dogs of capitalism.” Not a bad idea on paper but in reality so many regrettable moments. From his drunken CNN outbursts, to singing happy birthday to Kim in the stadium, shades of Marilyn. Rodman says his trip was apolitical, uh yeah, a political mess.

From the KU Center for East Asian Studies this is Randi Hacker. Wish you were here.

This is Randi Hacker with another Postcard from Abroad from the KU Center for East Asian Studies.

There’s a dumpling variation in pretty much every world cuisine but be honest: When you hear dumplings, you think Asia, right? Dumplings are truly a pan-Asian food. In China, they’re called jiao zi; In Korea, mandu. In Japan, they are known as gyoza and in Mongolia, buuz. Each Asian country also has its own distinctive way of wrapping its dumplings. In China, it’s all about the pleat and the finished dumplings’ resemblance to a tael – that is, a silver ingot. In Korea, the dumpling hugs itself. Japan’s dumplings are pressed together while the Mongolian way of rotating and pinching requires a discouraging amount of manual dexterity. No matter what you call them or how you wrap them, their fusion of chewy wrapper and subtly spiced filling is satisfying to the palate and to the soul. More of a yum-pling, really, than a dumpling.

From the KU Center for East Asian Studies, this is Randi Hacker. Wish you were here.

This is Randi Hacker with another Postcard from Abroad from the KU Centers for East Asian Studies and Global and International Studies.

Here in Italy, amateur scientists launched the Sicilian Space Program by sending a cannoli – you heard that right, a cannoli – into space. Their goal in launching a traditional Sicilian cream-filled pastry into the stratosphere? To bring whimsy and pride to Sicily, which gets bad press thanks to organized crime, debt and unemployment. Before you go all People for the Ethical Treatment of Pastries on us – it wasn’t a real cannoli. It was a clay replica. It traveled two hours, reached 97,000 feet and survived very cold temperatures. Onboard cameras captured the cannoli in space, with fluffy, white clouds, blue sky and green earth in the background. The result is a beautiful video of the cannoli’s extraterrestrial adventure whose purpose is to make people smile. It’s a sweet story, isn’t it?

With thanks to Jennifer Duhamel for this text, from the KU Center for East Asian Studies, this is Randi Hacker. Wish you were here.