Curling is played to some extent in at least 50 countries; there are currently 50 countries belonging to the World Curling Federation (the international governing body for curling). Besides the U.S. and Canada, most of the WCF member countries are European. A few exceptions are China, Japan, Korea, Australia, New Zealand. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Curling_Federation
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Yes, curling IS on ice. That's why it's in the winter Olympics instead of the summer ones.
However, the ice surface is quite different than hockey ice. The biggest difference is the presence of "pebble." Before each game, someone uses what is essentially a backpack water tank with a nozzle that has little holes in it to spray little water droplets all over the ice surface. The droplets freeze to produce small bumps on the ice called pebble. The pebble is essential to successful curling, because it allows the rocks to slide as easily as they do (you'd have to push them much harder on flat hockey ice) and predictably. As a game progresses, the pebble wears down from rocks traveling over it, and from sweeping. This adds another strategic element to the game.
Curling is played on ice. Where you have a slider on one shoe with a gripper to cover it and normal shoe sole on the other.