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A "-Ber" Month is not just a cold month for us. Yung tipong mapapatanong kanalang talaga kung kaninong conversation nanaman ba ng mag-jowa 'to at bakit pati tayong mga single damay sa conversation nilang malamig? CHAROUGHT!
Anyway, I will stop my corny side now and focus on writing the main topic because this is not our main topic.
For today's blog, I will participate in 
But I will still try my best to answer this. So here we go!
You know what? When I was still a kid, I always waited for this month/s. Because,
I like the weather.
Experiencing cold weather makes me think that I am in another country because when I saw my Aunt's picture wearing a very thick jacket and being surrounded by a lot of snow, I envied her. Not only in her but even in the Disney princess shows or movies makes me jealous. I despise summer weather because it irritates me when I sweat a lot, especially when I wear shoes to school, so when SeptemBER arrives, I am overjoyed.
The Holidays are near.
Who wouldn't be excited when the -BER months begin?We always count the days starting from "100 Days". When I was in Grade 4, I was looking forward to this because our teacher announced in the last week of August that we would have a visitor during our Christmas Party Celebration.She announced before that we would celebrate our Christmas party with Jollibee. I am a fan of Jollibee and I always collected some toys back then from their Jolly Kiddie Meal. They always buy me that thing whenever we go to Jollibee with my Mom, but it's sad because I abandoned them inside our old house.Anyway, in order for us to have a Jollibee meal, we need to start saving in the Jollibee coin can bank in the month of September. A two-piece of Jollibee chickenjoy is my happiness at that time, and a Jolly Kiddie meal is not for me anymore since I am not a Grade 2 student already. This is not the only reason why we are very excited when the September month starts! We are also very happy because we will receive a gift from exchanging gifts with our classmates and friends and play some games with the other sections. And of course, after the Christmas party, we will have a 2 week vacation to celebrate the holidays with our family. I am so very excited when Christmas and New Year come because our family always has an exchange gift party. Our Grandma always decorates the Christmas tree, and there are so many gifts below. We are always happy and excited when the gift boxes with our name tags are so very big, but sometimes a little disappointed because some of our Tito and Titas are so very good at pranking. They always give us a big box of gifts, but when we open it inside, the gift that we will receive is just a small thing, but still, it's very special and they always make sure that we can use it in the school because after the holidays, we will be back in the school again.
My ber months in the past were very meaningful. Because it was full of excitement and other emotions that we can feel because of the holiday season. And we will be excited to experience it again and again with our family, friends, relatives, and other important people in our lives.
But that is only a thought and just a temporary expectation in our lives because we are just young, we are just kids, and we aren't aware of our surroundings. Right now, I am aware of the reality of how the world of our lives revolves. While growing up, I thought that -ber month was full of happiness just like what we experienced when we were still kids. But that is just an expectation or a cover-up of our fantasies. Because now that I've grown up, my definition of a ber month is:
"A months that made some Filipinos suffer."
Because,
The Farmers during the "-Ber" months are suffering from the typhoon and other disasters.
I thought when I was a kid that there was no problem. But I didn't know that the farmers during the -ber months are the most affected and suffering. They are suffering because a lot of typhoons during the last few months have attacked the areas in the Philippines. It's either in Luzon, Visayas, or Mindanao. As you know, in our country, farming is one of the most needed jobs for Filipinos as a source of income and food. Once there are some big typhoons, the rice crops are the most affected, which is why the farmers are struggling because it's difficult to plant rice. They are investing a lot of time, like waking up in the dawn until in the morning and staying there to plant some rice, and there's a lot of progress in how to plant and take care of it, so they are experiencing a lot of pain in their backs and other parts of their bodies, and it's more saddening to say that most of the farmers are senior citizens. They choose to do that job because if they do not do it, who will plant the rice that we as humans always eat so we can survive in this world?
Another one is,
The Filipinos suffer from a Lack of Funds during the -Ber months.
Whether a pandemic or not, a "-ber" month or not, this experience is not new to us already. But I learned that the last few months are the ones where we always experience not having a lot of funds for our budget. During these months, as "Ilokano," we always have "Gawat" or "walang pera" (no money). Because the price of goods every rainy season increases, the budget for everyday needs is not enough.
Even though you have some work, it is not enough to buy the things you need in the house and for your family.
It makes us stressed to budget the money and or find where to get some money because "-Ber" months means it's "Tag-hirap" months for us, especially that it's still a pandemic and we are still recovering slowly. It's still hard for us to survive because the price of goods is increasing, and most of the important things that we need for our lives are vanishing slowly as well because of the price of importing the products from other countries into our country.
You know, when I was a kid, I also experienced not celebrating Christmas and New Year when our family decided to have a solo-family occasion and just celebrated it with them, either Christmas or New Year, depending on the situation of the decision. I've had the experience of simply sleeping early during Christmas or New Year's while our neighbors and others celebrated with their families. Because I am living with my grandparents alone and we don't have any money to buy some food to celebrate Christmas.
Conclusion...
But you know what? What I've also noticed is that, despite these two negative experiences, every Filipino is still doing their best to make our "-Ber" months meaningful. We always make these months interesting and fun despite how many typhoons, disasters, and other problems come. We still get up and fight those things that are making us suffer. While the holidays are approaching, we still find ways to laugh and make memes. I was proud to become a Filipino because we are all strong and we can still say, after a year, "I'm glad that I survived."
So this is what I thought as a Filipino about the Ber months. Thanks for reading!
Published by: 
Date: 09-7-22
All images are drawn in my sketchbook application and edited using the Canva App.