How to Eat Balut

by Brady Friesen

Step 1: Buy a balut from one of the many vendors walking down the street. You will recognize them by their occasional declarations of "Balut!" As seen below, balut looks like a slightly oversized chicken egg. But, as with people, it is what is inside that counts...

Step 2: Crack open the flat end of the balut by striking it against a hard surface. This allows you to peel off the shell in sections, as one would peel a typical hard-boiled egg.

Step 3: Once you have a small opening, you will notice a dark liquid surrounding the contents of the egg. This is the appetizer. Pour a small amount of water and vinegar into the opening, then drink.

Step 4: Once the liquid content of the balut is consumed, peel off more shell until the real treasure of the balut is exposed.

Unlike most eggs you have probably eaten in your lifetime, balut is fertilized, so what you are looking at is a little duck fetus after around 17 days of growth. Depending on the the age of the balut, you may see feathers and notice a developed beak and bones. The one pictured, however, is of the younger variety. This is the main course.

Step 5: Carefully peel the fetus away from its former home by the head and place it carefully in your mouth. (Note: When pulling it out, be carful to grab the whole head or you may rip it in two, exposing the brain.) You may also wish to add more vinegar and salt to bring out the flavour.

Step 6: Now, the reward. Take time to savour the balut. Chew slowly, enjoy, and swallow.

Step 7: Two sections remain. The first is the yolk, which will be familiar to those of you who have eaten a hard-boiled chicken egg. Eat this.

Step 8: Finally, the dessert. You will notie a white, rubbery substance stuck to the bottom of the egg. Peel the shell carefully from the substance- this may take some time. Then, place in your mouth and chew. This may also take some time, as the texture is very similar to that of a white eraser.

Step 9: Repeat from Step 1 if desired.

There you have it. The next time you have the opportunity to try balut, you will be able to eat it like a pro.


On another note, we have just completed our third (!) VBS. We held this one in Balacbac at the basketball court, which is also where we have church on Sunday morning. We had a great turnout of around 100 energetic kids.

We split the kids into 4 classes depending on their age groups, and I co-taught the oldest class (13 to around 15). Most of them are in the youth group, so it was cool to be able to connect with them more through teaching them. Despite being what I would think as a little old for VBS, they seemed to enjoy it and hopefully learn more about what the Bible teaches about wisdom.

My co-teacher, Kat, teaching the youth

Due to space limitations, our class met on the roof of a house, with all sorts of fun rebar sticking out of the floor ready to stub your toe and cables ready to literally clothesline you.

Playing '4 Corners' on the roof- don't get too close to the edge!

It was a lot of fun, but quite draining. Organizing and handling 100 kids is no small task, but at the end of the week, we all agreed it was quite a success. It is a great privilege  to be working alongside with our new Filipino friends to bring joy and love to a bunch of kids.

Jonas' favorite part of VBS

The 7-9 year olds practicing their graduation song

Mmmm. pansit!

It has been quite the week, with our second VBS in as many weeks, and our team is ready for a break. Tomorrow, we head north to Banaue for a 4 day retreat. This is where Ashley's grandparents built a hospital several decades ago. We are excited to meet some people who knew them and also to check out the 2000 year old rice terraces while we are there. Pray for safety as we drive the windy mountain roads, for Pastor Sam's old Toyota Tamaraw to get us there without mechanical problems, and for some good team bonding while there.

Thanks for reading!

Adventures of Holy Week and VBS

It has been exactly 2 weeks since my last post and a lot has happened since then. The week before last was Holy Week, which is a big deal in the largely Catholic nation of the Philippines. A lot of tourists come to Baguio from Manila and other places in the Philippines for a Holy Week holiday, since it is much cooler here. So Baguio was a pretty bustling place for a week and it was interesting to see other Filipinos that are more of toursits than we are. We didn't have any major scheduled events on our itinerary that week because of Holy Week, but it gave us the chance to do a lot of random and awesome things.

On that Monday, we joined the Arcano family at a swimming pool outside of the city. It was super fun spending the day relaxing and having fun with them, and going down a couple of short but fast water slides.

We also spend some time fixing up the shed in the front yard, getting it ready to be a music room. The cement was deteriorating near the base of the walls, so we re-cemented the footings and reframed some of the wall. There is still work to be done, but it was nice to work with our hands and achieve something really practical.

Who needs power tools?

One of the highlights of the week was climbing a mountain before breakfast the day before Good Friday. We got up early and embarked on our quest at 5:30. It really wasn't that intense, considering we were just walking up a gently sloped paved road for 90 minutes, but the view definitely was intense (see below) and at one point, a few of us took a shortcut which involved the use of hands to climb up.

We spent the morning and afternoon of Good Friday at Camp John Hay (a big park) in prayer and fasting with the Arcanos and some others from the church. It was awesome praying for each other, the ministry here, and the city. It made me wonder why we don't do this sort of thing more often.

On Saturday, we went to the Bibak Bible church, which was co-planted by Ashley's grandparents 41 years ago, when they were missionaries in Baguio. It is a little mindblowing that despite not having any input on where in the world we would be headed for TREK, we ended up in the very place where her dad spent part of his childhood. It was missions night at the church, and we sang a song and Ashley shared her testimony. They also did some traditional Igorot dancing, and guess what? they asked us to join them! If you want to watch, click on this link. Good times.

At Bibak Bible Church

To top of an excellent Holy Week, we had a sunrise service at 5:30 am on Easter Sunday where our team led worship.


Just when we thought we were finished with the whole dancing thing after Bibak (I am a Mennonite, after all), we were invited to the 18th birthday party of the granddaughter of a member of the Balacbac church on Tuesday night (who we haven't met). Birthdays are a big deal here, and 18th birthdays especially so. In a traditional 18th birthday, 18 guys and 18 girls all waltz together, then the 18 guys give a rose to the birthday girl and dance with her, and then the 18 girls give her a candle and say a tribute. And wouldn't you know it, they still needed two more guys! So Jonas and I found ourselves waltzing away with 18 different girls (19, counting the birthday girl) in front of 200 people, feeling completely out of place and really tall. But it was actually a really fun evening and a cool insight into Filipino culture, where birthdays seem more like weddings than birthdays.

At the party

Dancing

We also did VBS this week in the community of Ambiong. Despite using the same theme and materials as our last VBS in Camp 7, this one was quite different because instead of 400 students, we had around 30. We were hoping for a few more, but another church was doing a VBS at the same time. The smaller group was kind of nice though, since we felt like we could actually get to know some of the kids and it was more personal. We also did it over 5 mornings, rather than 3 full days like last time. It was a good week, and we get to do it all over again in Balacbac in the upcoming week, so prayer for energy, joy, and a good turnout of exited kids would be appreciated!

Going around inviting people to VBS

Singing the VBS theme song

My class

Thanks for reading! You are now caught up with the last 2 weeks of my life.