Chapter 29 Chapter 25 Safe Haven

Munich is a safe haven for me.There is a training ground with beautiful scenery and excellent hardware. When I need to jump out of the trivial matters and concentrate on immersing myself in the tennis world, I will come here.There are doctors and fitness coaches I trust here, and when my injuries prevent me from fighting or need to relax and adjust, I will also come here. In addition, Europe is the cradle of tennis, and I almost have to play in Europe for more than two months every year, and Munich has gradually become my stronghold in Europe.My doctor, therapist, and fitness coach are all here, and we have worked together for more than four years and have become a mature team.

Whenever I have more time to rest, I often go back to China to adjust for a few days before going to Munich for training.Sometimes it takes two or three weeks to adjust here-seeing doctors, practicing physical fitness, and coming to Munich for winter training at the end of the season at the end of the year.Every year at the end of the Australian Open, I will go to Munich, play Dubai and Doha again.After playing Indian Wells and Miami, I will return to China for a few days, and then come to Munich, because this is the beginning of the clay court season.Wait until the French Open is over, go back to Munich to adjust, and then go to Wimbledon.After Wimbledon is over, I will rush back to Wuhan to see my family and friends, then return to Munich, and then fly to the United States from Munich to play the US Open.

After careful calculation, I spent more time in Munich than in China. I like Munich very much. The environment here is very good, the climate is humid, and it is a quiet and beautiful city.I came to this city for the first time at the end of 2007. I have been recuperating here from March to June 2008. At the same time when my injury recovered, it was just catching up with the spring in Munich. After the winter snow melted, the grass exposed on the ground was still bright green.The whole city is very quiet and the residents are mostly gentle and polite.It is said that this is one of the cities with the highest per capita reading volume in Europe. This is just heard, not confirmed, but it is true that the people I see in the gym are generally better in physical fitness. Their living habits are relatively simple and pure. Made a good impression.

The urban construction of Munich is very distinctive. It is an ancient city whose history can be traced back to the Roman Empire.The current residents also carefully maintain the quaint style of Munich as the capital of the former Kingdom of Bavaria, so Munich is known as the "village of a million people".Urban infrastructure and transportation systems are designed with precision and strictness. All buses and subways have accurate timetables, reminding passengers that the bus you are waiting for will arrive in a few minutes.At any station, it is very convenient to transfer from the subway to the bus.

I especially like the people here, no matter men, women or children, they all look very healthy and walk fast. We used to live near the outskirts of Munich. In early 2010, we moved to the training center hotel next to the "English Garden" in Munich.This training center is mainly for tennis and equestrian. There are several indoor and outdoor tennis courts, which are very professional. The "English Garden" is a very large park, bigger than New York's Central Park, and is very famous in Europe. It is said that the park was built in the style of an 18th-century English courtyard, hence its name.But I have never been there once—I have been in Munich for so many years, except for the Neuschwanstein Castle, I have not been anywhere else, because I am usually busy with training and I am very tired. If you don't go out, try not to go out.

My training plan is generally like this: start at 7 o'clock every day, start training at 8 o'clock, play until 10 o'clock, and then come back to take a shower. At 10:40, I went to the physical training center. First, I had massage therapy for 40 minutes, and then I trained with the physical coach until 1:00 noon. Have lunch after training, continue physical training from 3pm to 5pm, and then come back, play ball for an hour from 6pm to 7pm.Rest at 10pm. It's really hard to train like this every day.I take a break every Sunday to adjust my state.I am a senior house girl and I am not particularly interested in scenic spots.I only go out with Jiang Shan occasionally—on Sundays, we occasionally go to the Christmas market in Marin Square, and we can also have a Chinese meal nearby. The main motivation for me to go is this Chinese meal.

Our association with Munich people has changed many of our living habits. Chinese medicine says to drink hot milk. We are never hot, and we drink cold milk bottles when we wake up in the morning. I also like the beer that Munich people are proud of. Jiang Shan and I will have a drink when we are not busy. I love dogs, especially huskies.Once on the subway, I saw someone taking his husky on the subway. The dog was very big, with white fur and a little gray on the head.The owner sat reading a book and didn't hold the dog. The husky sat on the ground proudly.When the subway arrived at the station, the door opened automatically, and the big dog suddenly lay down on its own. At this time, a group of students walked into the subway and happened to pass by the place where the big dog was sitting. It turned out that it was afraid that it would block the way!When the children walked by, the big dog sat up straight again proudly.It was like this every time the subway arrived at a station along the way, and it stayed there obediently from the beginning to the end, neither barking nor making trouble.I think this dog is so good, I keep staring at it.

I have been in Munich for a long time, and I found that the pet dogs here are very well-bred. Jiang Shan was also puzzled, and asked me: "Why don't the dogs here like to bark?" We often see the owner taking the dog out, and at the entrance of the supermarket , the owner put it there, and went into the supermarket without even tying it.The puppy just waited motionless, and the owner walked around inside for two hours, and it waited obediently for two hours. I asked a German friend, and he said that their dog had been taught in a "school of etiquette". In German cities, the punishment for violating the dog-keeping regulations is very strict.If the dog defecates on the street and the owner slips away without cleaning it up, it is likely to receive a fine from the "order police", which can be as high as several hundred euros.If the dog keeps barking at home, the neighbors can call the police, and several people can sign to ask the dog owner to move.In order to keep the dog from barking, the owner must send the dog to a training school for training.

In Germany, raising a dog is almost as troublesome as raising a child. You have to send it to a pet hospital for a full-body checkup and vaccinations.If you want to travel with a dog, you must apply for a "pet passport" for the dog.In addition to the pet's name, date of birth, species, gender and fur color, the pet passport also has a record of the pet's health and vaccinations for each trip.Except for police dogs and guide dogs, all other breeds of dogs must pay a dog tax, and each household can keep up to two dogs.Because dogs can be dangerous to people, it is necessary to insure the dog with a maximum compensation of 1 million euros.This kind of insurance is mandatory, and the more dangerous the dog, the higher the premium.

Because I like dogs very much, and I was very curious about the "manner training" German dogs received, I immediately applied to Jiang Shan: "Let's get a dog!" Jiang Shan immediately rejected my proposal.He doesn't like dogs. He thinks that raising animals will smell bad in the house, and he has to clean up the dog hair that falls off. He won't let me go, "unless you take care of it yourself." Dogs and competitions cannot have both. In a short time, I guess I can only enjoy watching other people's dogs.I'll talk about it later when I have time!