I entered the classroom as usual with the usual early students who endured the cold temperature at the lower 30s at seven O’clock, and the usual atmosphere of students sitting here and there with surprise on their faces as if my sudden intrusion somehow broke the balance of the force.

Well, this is what I have to go through again and again every Tuesday and Thursday morning at 8:00, unless of course I fake illness or what.

This so happened that as I entered the room, one of the students raised her hand and asked me whether or not we are going to have a day off next Tuesday. How clever she is! And tempting, indeed. The official Thanksgiving weekend does not start until next Thursday, and now they are asking for more. So I had to say, no, we will still have class next Tuesday.

Maggie, the student who brought up the question, immediately showed some annoyance on her face. “But why?” she said.

“If we have Tuesday off, then the Thanksgiving weekend will be too long. In that case, you won’t be thankful any more…” I replied.

“But we do need a break!”

“Well, to quote Ross in Friends, ‘We were on a break!’”

There appeared the usual three vertical lines across Maruko’s eye on both the student and the teacher.

And to quote Monica in Friends, ”Mr., you are in a row!”