actually, i am supposed to have a companion but....

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on the second day, i decided to pay the nearby diveshop a visit. just right before i start my holiday, i was seriously considering getting into scuba diving. i just had one problem though: i do not know how to swim. but curiosity got the best of me and so i decided to give it a try. (i was supposed to take it together with my boyfriend david but we broke up days before that holiday started. he was supposed to be with me in bohol. supposed to but then why he wasnt was another story and i do not feel like telling it at this point.)

aside from the fact that i was brokenhearted and holger did not know i was, he insisted that i wait for david before we start our lessons. he is the general manager of phildivers, and he is now added to the list of the europeans that charmed me. he went into military, drove a warplane, put up a skydiving business, majored in economics, masscommunication and god-knows-what-else, became a professional kickboxer, and has been into wherever and has done whatever for the last thirty years or so. he was charming enough to personally offer to train me and david, of which unfortunately was totally wasted because my boyfriend (ooops, ex boyfriend) was caught between his sanity and his past, between his garage and the airport lounge.

"do you want coffee or anything?" he said, in an intonation that is so not German.

he took me out for breakfast instead.

he talked about the days at the military, his first business venture, his ex-gf doctor who left him for american soil. we shared views on how perfect bohol is, how dirty boracay has become, and how amazing the scenery down under. he talked about his kickboxing days in japan, and the dancers in thailand (and how he loved them), and life in Germany. we discussed the filipino culture and women and lifestyle.

he commended my english for the way i chose my words and the way i made them sound.

"when i was young---"

"yes, right, when you were still crawling in your cradle." he cut me with a grin.

"im 26 years old, holger. i am past mid-twenties already."

"no kidding. i thought you were 19." he leaned back and gave me a good sizing up. "20. 21."

that is just how the world is. some people age physically under stress.

i just kept blossoming into adolescence.

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