Swedish Tourist Association and Jenny Engstrom

Swedish Number: Claiming to be the world first country with its own phone number, the Swedish Tourist Association recently launched the Swedish Number, +46-771-793-336, a single phone line that connects international callers to random Swedish volunteers who are ready and willing to talk about anything at all, according to Toronto Star. In the beginning lots of people just called just to see if it worked, said Jenny Engstrom, one of about 30,000 volunteers who have downloaded a mobile app that puts them on calling list for the next two months. Just asks one of the thousands of Swedish telephone ambassadors who’ve signed up to drop everything and sing their country praises at the sound of a phone ringing. A girl from South Korea called me and asked ‘Are you a robot ’ ‘No,’ I said, ‘I’m not a robot, I’m real.’ The phone line is meant to mark the 250th anniversary of Sweden abolishment of censorship and to educate foreigners about the country and its culture. The 46-year-old said over the past two weeks she has spoken with more than 30 people about all sorts of topics, including a tomato farmer from Illinois who gave her advice on growing vegetables and a girl from Holland who asked about the party scene in Stockholm. Engstrom, who works for the tourist association and was celebrating her son confirmation when she picked up the phone, said the phone line has been an amazing success, with more than 100,000 incoming calls from around the world. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.