Well, here comes some deep insight into the secret sciences of the public administration in Germany! Just so that you get an impression of what I have to deal with on a daily basis, as I am trying to make an intelligent impression in this civil servant environment, I want to show you this circulation folder – or routing folder. They are used to assure that a certain paper or publication (as i.e. the Official Journal with all new laws being published) reaches all recipients in the administration.

The photo above shows you a typical example of a circulation folder being ready for the journey from my desk (my number being “31) through the mail room to my boss (“3”), then continued to the State Secretary (“#”) to the Prime Minister (“+”).

It took me a while to get back into this system again, but today I realized that the sign for the Prime Minister is a cross like in the church! As if this folder is supposed to go to the very, very top!

Very weird for a so secular state as Bremen is and always was…