Baby, Birthday and Budweiser Budvar

Our friends Michael and Tiada are leaving on 1 June—14 days before the term actually ends—so that Michael can start an internship in South Korea. Since Tialda was born there, but grew up in the Netherlands, the summer spent in Seoul offers something for both of them.

Not only did they recently announce their imminent departure from Cambridge, but they confirmed M*'s and my suspicion that they were expecting a baby. Tialda gathered friends around on Wednesday on the bridge by The Mill to divulge the information. Since M* and I had seen a pregnancy book partially hidden high up on their shelf, noticed that Tialda had completely stopped drinking and received a tip from Michael that Tialda had a surprise for me, I was armed with celebratory lollipops.

Wakako, Yuri, Tialda, Maria and me celebrating the pregnancy news.

There was more celebrating for the couple during the surprise party that Tialda threw for Michael. Since the majority of M*'s classmates are in their late 20s or very early 30s, it's nice to have another 35er around. Tialda came over to our flat the day before to bake two pies and drop off the lyrics to two Dutch birthday songs: Eenjarig and Langleven. She showed me where to download them in mp3 form, and I played them for the guests so we would know how to (somewhat) properly sing when Michael arrived.

Michael blowing out the 3 and 5 candles to celebrate his 35th birthday.

At the birthday celebration, M* asked the bartender for a beer recommendation. I expected a beer on tap to be mentioned, however a pilsner in a bottle was suggested: Budweiser Budvar. While it has a familiar name, this is not an American beer. According to the bartender, this is the beer that Anheuser-Busch version of Budweiser took its recipe from. Budvar has been brewed since the 1200s in Bohemia. M*'s thoughts: more memorable and refined pilsner than the American version.

M* discovers the original Budweiser: Budweiser Budvar.