The Bear Cave
The Bear Cave is the official American International School of Zagreb podcast - your backstage pass into the stories that shape our school community.
In each episode, we invite voices from across AISZ - students, teachers, staff, parents, alumni and more - to step into the Cave and share their journeys. From personal challenges and unexpected successes to passions, ideas and defining moments, these conversations go beyond the classroom to reveal what truly connects the Bears.
Honest, thoughtful and sometimes surprising, The Bear Cave is a space where experiences are shared, perspectives are explored, and every story matters.
Come in, listen closely and discover the people behind AISZ.
The Bear Cave
The Bear Cave Ep. 6 - Martina Salluzzo
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
In Episode 6 of The Bear Cave, host Myles Finn sits down with Martina Salluzzo, AISZ French teacher and longtime member of the school community. Martina shares her journey through Croatia, France, Belgium, Switzerland, and the United States, and how her path through tourism, business, marketing, and culture eventually brought her back to her true passion: teaching.
Myles and Martina talk about world languages, the AISZ scholarship program, home language learning, robotics, student trips to France, music, Croatia’s beauty, and the joy of learning alongside students. It’s a warm conversation about language, culture, connection, and helping students grow with purpose and integrity.
All right, so here we are. I'm here with Madame Saluzzo. So excited to have you on. Thank you. Welcome to the podcast.
Martina SalluzzoThank you.
Myles FinnUm I I've gotten to know you a little bit since we've started here, um, but not as much as I want to. And I am excited to learn more about you today because I know that you have an amazing story to tell. So will you will you start with um what's your like teaching history? Where did you start teaching? Um, did you grow up in Zagreb?
Martina SalluzzoWell, yeah. I uh partially grew up in Zagreb. I partially grew up in France, in Strasbourg.
Myles FinnAmazing.
Martina SalluzzoI lived for a while in Belgium, in Geneva, Switzerland. But uh then I came back to Zagreb. And uh you asked me when I started teaching. I always wanted to be a teacher, but I actually didn't start my career as a teacher. Really? What did you do first? So uh I worked for a while in tourism as a tour guide. I work uh also as a student still at the reception of a hotel in France.
Myles FinnGood.
Martina SalluzzoUh but I also manage, I worked in the United States, I was manager of a travel agency. Oh, sure. I also worked in marketing for a while.
Myles FinnAmazing. So you've had like multiple different correct.
Martina SalluzzoI manage the language center Berlitz in Zagreb when we returned first.
Myles FinnYeah.
Martina SalluzzoUh so I do have some like business experiences. Uh and then I decided, no, my heart has always been teaching and I want to go back to teaching.
Myles FinnThat's amazing. So when when did you start teaching?
Martina SalluzzoI starting teaching at the AISZ in 2002. It's a long time.
Myles FinnOkay.
Martina SalluzzoBut I've been part-time. I have at the same time I have parallelly done other jobs as well. I worked for the Ministry of Culture at the time.
Myles FinnOh, amazing.
Martina SalluzzoAnd I worked 40% of my time, one or two classes for a while. Grew to 60, grew to 80%, and then once my kids were at the age to be in school, then I kind of switched to being full-time and I dropped the other jobs.
Myles FinnYeah, and that's I mean, that's a good reason to want to want to be in the school so that you're able to be around your children and be able to spend more time with them. That's something that I'm so like fortunate to have, you know, being able to see my four-year-old run through pre-K right now is is pretty awesome. And I'm sure that you've had multiple experiences with that. So you would have been in the last building before this one. Have you been in two buildings with AI?
Martina SalluzzoI have been with two buildings, not at the one before, although I at time like my husband occasionally, when he first came to Zagreb in 9091.
Myles FinnOkay.
Martina SalluzzoHe actually occasionally stopped and worked in the building before that on Zelenak. But my job was first on the Vocheska building, and I love that building. My my heart still at Vochaska sometimes. Uh yeah.
Myles FinnThat's awesome. Uh and you teach you teach French?
Martina SalluzzoFrench is my main course that I teach. But I've also taught uh English EAL. My degree is English and language, so I was teaching AL for a while. And when I needed, I was substituting and doing some some personal finance and business because I do have expertise and then somebody kind of selected this, saw this on my resume and say, Great, kids want to study business. Yeah, absolutely.
Myles FinnThat's great.
Martina SalluzzoI still occasionally um supervise some EE in business.
Myles FinnThat's amazing. So when when did you come back to Zagreb?
Martina SalluzzoUh we returned from the US in 2000.
Myles FinnOkay.
Martina SalluzzoI have uh I did I lived in the US from 93 to 2000.
Myles FinnSure.
Martina SalluzzoI did part of my university in the US as well. That's where I met my husband. Then we came back here in 19, went back in 93, had our one child here, second child there. And then when the kids were school age, we decided that it's a much nicer place to have our kids grow up.
Myles FinnSure.
Martina SalluzzoSo the main reason why we returned to Croatia was we wanted kids to grow up in a safe and happy and beautiful place.
Myles FinnAmazing. Where did you live in the States while you were there?
Martina SalluzzoUh so I lived for a year in Connecticut.
Myles FinnOkay.
Martina SalluzzoAnd I went to the University of Connecticut in West Hartford. And then we lived in Pennsylvania. We lived in the wider Philadelphia area. Okay. Lancaster Coatesville.
Myles FinnThat's awesome. I love that. Uh sometimes if you're if your microphone gets too far away from your face, it'll like it'll like cut out the sound. So just be careful with that. Did you hear it? It happened like once or twice when you were talking about where you were living. Okay. I didn't hear it. That's okay. Not a big deal. That's all right. We're doing good. So yeah, it's a that's an exciting time to be at ASC. It's a cool uh building. There are a lot of amazing things that are happening here. Um have you had any if you've been with the building or you've been with the school for 24 years, you've obviously known a lot of different changes uh throughout the time that you've been here. Have there been anything, uh you've seen in the last couple of years that have been really exciting for you, or things that you're like, oh that that is something that I believe in. I'm super excited to see this happening with AISZ.
Martina SalluzzoWell, I have seen many changes. And for sure. I I always I my attitude is always we have to be open to change. We are looking forward, we're changing at a speed of uh every every every age brings something new. It's the change of students, change of generations. Sometimes it's challenging. Right now, with uh all the AI, we are kind of at the point there I I really need to find out what is really relevant for students.
Myles FinnSure.
Martina SalluzzoAnd uh learning from them. It's something, you know, it's always something that excites me, not just what I can teach them, but what I can learn from them. And we're learning together. I always say it's a learning community, we learn from each other.
Myles FinnFor sure. And there's there's a lot of things that like the students will know better than us, right? Absolutely, yes. The little workarounds or you know, like little things. And it amazes me. Like, I know that they have Roblox blocked on the school computers, but uh I I'll always walk in and some kid will know the workaround and we'll figure it out. Yeah. Makes me laugh every time.
Martina SalluzzoI mean I was laughing because when they started robotics at school, somebody needed to supervise. And as one of our scholarship students started it, and I'm the coordinator of the scholarship program. So I like he said, I really want to do that. I believe in robotics, and I I just need a supervisor. So I said, okay. So I ended up being a robotics supervisor without having a clue about robotics or anything. I was really learning with students from the students, and uh, it's amazing how much uh kids have taught me about robotics and also how successful they were. Some years in competitions, we were second in Croatia that first year.
Myles FinnAmazing.
Martina SalluzzoWith me as a supervisor who had no clue what these kids were doing.
Myles FinnYou just like you can just pretend though. I know everything about robotics. That's why my kids are so good, right?
Martina SalluzzoNo, I I told them I'm just your secretary in your communication facilitator. That was my job.
Myles FinnYeah, they they just ran with it. That's amazing. Yeah. Uh what other like little odds and end jobs have what like duties like that have you done?
Martina SalluzzoWell, I will talk about the three things that are really my passion and about which I I mean, I won't say care the most. I care about many things.
Myles FinnYeah.
Martina SalluzzoBut uh okay, world languages teacher, and I'm really proud that um a few years ago we applied for a program of distinction in world languages.
Myles FinnYeah.
Martina SalluzzoAnd we were the third school in the world that actually got from the MSA that accreditation. I'm really proud of that. That was something we, okay, let's do it, we can do it. I'm also proud that uh we uh introduced the home language program. That's also something where I put a lot of my time and my heart, uh, as well as the scholarship program. We started, I think it's 12 years ago, and we have had some amazing scholarship creation students in our school that have done successes globally and locally after that. So I'm proud of all those students. I'm proud of our students. I like to be part of them their life. And I also love when they come back. And um it's sometimes after a year, two, five, ten, twelve, fifteen, they come back. I was very happy when we had our alumni meeting in London a few years ago. Some students from many, many years in the past found out about it, showed up. It was beautiful. Knowing all these things kids and seeing them developed into younger, in the wonderful, successful people.
Myles FinnThat's always the goal, right? Is to is to make good people, right? And and to have stories like that where you know I've done what I wanted to do, what I set out to do is to help create this this new generation and help shape them in a way that's going to be positive and is going to contribute to the world correctly in a in a in a beneficial way, right?
Martina SalluzzoAbsolutely.
Myles FinnBut you always get those moments, like the the looking back moments always feel good.
Martina SalluzzoUh-huh. Moments looking back, but also when I see that they have values, and this is something like I really hope that the biggest job I have is talk about what is right and what's wrong, and how to have your goals, your passions in life, and to live with integrity and with purpose.
Myles FinnYeah.
Martina SalluzzoThis is something. Usually when students come back and they tell me, Oh, Mrs. Saluzzo, you made us write those journals of gratitude. We hated you then, but how often we do it now and we're down. This is something that really um made a big contribution to our lives.
Myles FinnYeah, that's amazing. Uh you and I have talked about some of the passions that you have outside of school, um specifically talking about singing. Um Do you want to talk about that? What is your what has your journey with singing been like? Because I I I am a former chorus teacher and like love talking about singing with people. And I'm curious what what has that journey been like for you?
Martina SalluzzoSo uh I love music. I grew up with music. I won't say I'm a musician, but I played flute. I finished the secondary school for flute. All my kids played piano. Our house is always full of musical instruments. My uncle was a famous drummer in one of the bands. Lots of the famous Croatian bands practiced and did recordings in our house. So I really grew up with all types of music. Um I won't say I'm really good at it, but I love it. So I've been singing for past years in choirs. Right now I sing in an ensemble called Box Artist, and I really enjoy singing with uh ladies of all ages, walks of life, uh, interesting stories. Uh, right now we are preparing uh Beatles concerts in at the end of uh April. So I'm all in the Beatles song right now.
Myles FinnYeah. What's your what's your favorite Beatles song you're singing right now? There are lots of things.
Martina SalluzzoIf I talk about some of the day, I would say it's a hard day, it's not uh but no, it's not. It's uh I would go with all I need is love.
Myles FinnYeah, you can't go wrong with it. It's always it's always a winner. I love that. Um I was gonna ask you more about talk more about like what you're doing right now at at AISZ. Um as a teacher of world languages, do you find that there are common misconceptions about what you do?
Martina SalluzzoUh I can't say. I think we have um as a team of language teachers, we have uh work a lot to make the perception of the languages uh what we really want it to be. We have a beautiful um long sequence program, and we really can bring kids to very high levels of languages if they are with us for many years. Uh what is beautiful about being a language teacher is that you can choose what you do. Yes, there is always things that you need to teach them, vocabulary and grammar and some topics, but there's also lots of flexibilities. So we let students um influence and help the themes about which they want to talk. It's easier, of course, when they're at uh higher levels because then you have much more options and possibilities. But even at low levels of the language, we they can always have choices what they want. We can always also sing in a language. So I can sing and I tell them like don't listen to my music, but we're just learning words, guys.
Myles FinnYeah.
Martina SalluzzoSo yeah, I do lots of singing. I'm also excited about uh taking them to a trip this year. We're going to Normandy, we're going to visit Mont-Saint-Michel, we're going to Giverny to the house of Claude Monet. So we're talking about art. Uh, we're also going to visit, uh, we are still negotiating. Are we going to the Dior Museum? Because schedule, they're a little bit tricky with schedules. But uh, we try to kids love fashion, kids love art. So we we really try to make language um a glue that puts all their passions uh together.
Myles FinnYeah, because I think the misconception, like what I'm hearing from you right now, is that the misconception is that you're you're just teaching grammar or you're teaching vocab, right? It's so much more than that.
Martina SalluzzoIt's part of language, but it's so much more. Language is just a beautiful tool to uh doing things that you love.
Myles FinnYeah.
Martina SalluzzoAnd we can learn about many things and talk about uh hobbies, passions, uh sometimes experiential learning is so nice, being able to incorporate that like trips.
Myles FinnI think that's incredible to be able to throw that in there.
Martina SalluzzoAbsolutely.
Myles FinnYeah, and to be able to, I'd love, I just worked with a student that was singing, singing in French so that we could help her for was this a project or something or something or something?
Martina SalluzzoNo, it we just had we just had a festival de francophonie where our students sank in one of the local theaters. We have another one for Francophonie where we participate in SACS this year, uh in one of the clubs. Uh so we try to also be present in the communauté francophone. So whatever is French related and happening in Zagreb, we try to be present. I will be taking students to the uh basically a business fair, uh also university fair at university that is dealing with universities in French-speaking countries. So we try to be part of the French speaking communities, but also we just uh like to be involved. I also take kids to creation theaters. I also talk them re recently to like cinemas.
Myles FinnYeah. Gotta check it all out. Yeah. And like, but the you're forming relationships doing those things, you know, and like taking them outside of the school day. You're you're you have the ability to just get to know the kids at a such such a deeper level. And I think that they will then learn better when they're in your room.
Martina SalluzzoYeah, I I must say that uh sometimes they ask me, Well, why how do you know so much? Because kids come and tell me. Yeah, it's the nature of the language of the course that we teach, not just me, it's all of us language teachers. Kids talk. So they come to talk, and when they have to talk, they often talk about themselves. And uh we love hearing their stories, and uh, we give them freedom to express themselves.
Myles FinnThat's beautiful. That has to feel so rewarding too, uh especially to see a student go from maybe not understanding the language well to understanding the language well, but even more so, like what you were talking earlier, is that you're just helping craft them into individuals, let letting them kind of like seek for themselves what they love, let them showcase their passions, let them but let the either the French or the class that they're in be kind of that medium of of where they get to kind of experience more things.
Martina SalluzzoThat's correct. I don't like to tell them like you are grading us. No, honey, I'm not really grading you. You're just I'm just helping you learn and give you some feedback on how far you can go. And I always tell them it's like uh we are on the steps, we're always on the way upwards. We have to go somewhere. We can go up, down, stairs straight. It's it's up to you to choose your path. I will just help you uh support you along that path. Yeah. And this is something I like always to communicate to my students.
Myles FinnIt feels so much more holistic that way. And I love that. That's great. Um talk to me about like you were kind of you've kind of already talked about some of these things. We have questions, you and I have have already been talking about some of the questions that I that I have written down for you. But like uh one of the questions that I that I love to ask is um, what do you love most about what you do here? And I feel like you've already talked about this a little bit, but like what is that thing that that you you feel when you have this happen during a day, you you feel the love, you feel why you're doing this, why you're a teacher.
Martina SalluzzoI must say that uh I'm happy walking to school in the morning. I'm happy getting my cup of coffee and then knowing, I mean, I'm I'm coming to have these conversations with my students. Uh I won't say every class is always sometimes they're not happy, but most of the time they feel happy coming to language classes. And uh I mean, my days are full. I'm happy being with students. I I mentioned to you my passion is languages, uh, but also I try to be involved in different aspects of the school. I know students and uh I have wonderful colleagues. I really appreciate having my colleagues. It's meeting people from all around the world. So sometimes when you are not traveling, the world comes to you.
Myles FinnYeah.
Martina SalluzzoAnd uh I also still occasionally work as a tour guide, so people always come to ask me for some recommendations where to go, what to do. Um, I love Croatia, I love my country, I'm happy. Uh I live here. Yeah. So although I've traveled the world, I'm always happy to be at home.
Myles FinnYeah. If you were to like give an elevator pitch to somebody to like, this is why you should come to Zagreb specifically, or this is why you should come to Croatia. I feel like whenever, whenever I'm talking to Croatians, a lot of times I'm told, go to the coast, go to the coast, go to the coast. But there's so much beauty around here as well, right? So, like, give me an elevator pitch about why people give us an elevator pitch about why people should come to Zagreb specifically.
Martina SalluzzoSo I would say to Croatia overall, for the beautiful nature, for the fact that things are close. It is the sea, but it's the most beautiful clister, uh crystal clear uh sea with uh over thousand islands.
Myles FinnThat's incredible.
Martina Salluzzo1185 is officially on the papers on the islands. But it's also the mountains. I love the regions of Gorski Kotar, I like the lakes, I like Fujinna Lakes. That's also one of the areas I like very much. But also the continental parts of Croatia, there is so much diversity at such a small, uh small surface, basically. And uh there is so much culture, there is so much cultural differences, there are great food, great wines, um and everything is close. Yeah, everything is close, and most of all, what was important for me when I even made the decision to come back to Croatia is it's a safe, it's a very safe place. Kids have lots of freedom, they grow up um being very independent. So this is something that I would always uh uh promote as being uh big strength of Croatia.
Myles FinnDefinitely. That was one thing that I've always been impressed with is that we will bike by our park right in our our neighborhood, and there'll be maybe one adult close by, but then it's you know 10-15 kids that are out just playing by themselves, and and it's that's not a rare occurrence. That's something that's happening pretty regularly, is that people just know that kids are allowed to go out, kids are allowed to explore, kids are allowed to have these experiences because Croatia is a safe place, and that is that is so beautiful and refreshing um in a time when it feels a little tumultuous to know that you have safety in this country feels very, very nice.
Martina SalluzzoI totally agree.
Myles FinnYeah, that's great.
Martina SalluzzoBeautiful place to be. It really is. And we also have a beautiful school.
Myles FinnYes, we do, we do, which is amazing. Again, I'm so fortunate that I get to see my kids going through this school. It's it's it's so fun to be able to like meet them, uh watch what they're doing, but also like the teachers that we're working with are incredible. Like I I I feel like every time that I've that I've had a podcast, I've talked about this, but it the I I can't reiterate it enough. The pre-K team is incredible. And I know that that is not um that one, that doesn't happen all the time. That there are not always these incredible teachers like this, but two, I know that that is um throughout the grades there are incredible teachers. Throughout the school, there are incredible teachers. There, I I don't see anybody that is like not doing the kids justice. There are so many wonderful teachers in this building that are doing so many incredible things.
Martina SalluzzoI totally agree, and it's really the experiences from everybody uh from coming from all parts of the world, bringing such wealth with them. And uh yes, you mentioned the pre-K team. We have amazing, uh, amazing teacher art that is happening in the pre-K. I I walked by that back door, and uh the art that I see these little guys can make is just amazing.
Myles FinnIt's so fun. Rory was making what did he bring home yesterday? He brought home like a little leprechaun wand thing. It's so cute. Love it.
Martina SalluzzoYeah, and I laugh when my my husband, who sometimes comes to substitute because it's like, oh my god, when the first time asked me, Do you want to be in pre-K? Like, we need somebody desperate, like, oh I'm in pre-K. I've always taught high school. Yeah, I've never taught pre K. And then I I remember his first experience is oh, he's so big, he's a giant. And then the kid says, Yeah, but he's friendly. So they call him the friendly giant. Joe, the friendly giant.
Myles FinnThat's amazing, and I'm sure that every time that He goes to pre-K, he is tired afterwards.
Martina SalluzzoHe is totally exhausted. Seriously, that is So I admire all those pre-K teachers and early education, lower school teachers.
Myles FinnSo much energy. So much energy. Not that teaching, you know, like middle school or high school doesn't take energy as well. But like that is a that that is a special set of energy that those people have to bring every day. A project that you're excited about that you want to share?
Martina SalluzzoUh you mean in school? Sure. Or uh well, my project right now is our trip to France. I have to finalize our trip to France. Yeah, there's a lot to go into that. And this is right my project. And then we have also also started the scholarship process every year in um February and March. We start this year. The deadline is the 14th of February for scholarships. We take um creation students. Usually we take um up to eight students in the high school can be given a full scholarship, it's called Creation Young Leaders uh Scholarship Program. And I'm really proud of that program because uh we are happy to have also diversity in schools and uh students who bring a lot to our community. Yeah, so I'm proud of the students, and once I start looking through those applications, it's really difficult to uh uh pre-select to select, it's really difficult.
Myles FinnYeah, I'm sure. Because you you just want to bring them all in. I would like to bring them all in. Yeah, I get that. That is that is tricky. And the the logistics of a of a trip are all are also like always daunting, you know, getting getting.
Martina SalluzzoYeah, yeah. I just hope you know everything. Well, we're still still trying to to do those uh schedules so the time is used to uh to to the most optimum amount. So how much time are we spending in Mont Saint-Michel? Are we going to the Abbey? Are we not going? Are we just you know having a picnic? How much a tour? So little things like that. I'm still and also are we arriving at Monet? Are we first doing, are we doing the sketching and art as part of our trip?
Myles FinnSure.
Martina SalluzzoWill we have time for that? I still need to talk to the art teacher. Do they want something specific from the art perspective while we are at Monet's house in France?
Myles FinnSo that would be incredible. When are you going? When is this trip?
Martina SalluzzoWe are going on the 23rd of April.
Myles FinnOh, that's coming out. Yeah, it's coming up. About a month away. Yeah, amazing. That's so exciting. I love that. Um there was something else I had that I was gonna ask for you, but I don't remember what it was. Projects, the what you love most? Uh I I just love hearing you talk about Zagreb. Um so this question is do you have a Zagreb moment? Do you have a moment that like made you feel really set in stone? And this could be recently, this could be when you moved back, this could be prior to you moving away and coming back. Is there is there like a moment that you can think of specifically that you're like, this is the heart of why I love being here?
Martina SalluzzoMy God, this is so difficult.
Myles FinnUh yeah, to peg one moment, I'm sure is so difficult.
Martina SalluzzoUh usually I I mean, uh I try at the beginning of the school year, I often give a guided tour of Zagreb to the new teachers because again, I have worked as a guide for many years, usually my student years, but also I'm examiner for the tour guides. So it's something, you know, it's my second passion tourism in general history, stories about Zagreb. But I also have some hidden places that I enjoy. And uh, if I want to talk publicly about all of them, you gotta keep them keep them under wraps for yourself.
Myles FinnI love it.
Martina SalluzzoYou can come and ask me and I'll tell you if you have some special questions off air, we can have that conversation.
Myles FinnThat's great. I love that. Um, so I'm gonna get I'm gonna go through a couple rapid fire questions with you. Sure. Um, and then I'll I'll ask for a little final tidbit from you. Um but the first rapid fire question for you is what is the most unexpected skill that your job has taught you?
Martina SalluzzoHa ha ha. Well, since we uh have to go for unity trips and I went hiking, sailing, sleeping in the tents. Um I mean, uh even repairing some things. I've done I I love actually going for those trips with students because it's also when I have to be very resourceful.
Myles FinnSure, yeah.
Martina SalluzzoYeah, this is what I do. It's hard to say what is the one skill. It's the flexibility. I have to be flexible and adaptable to deal with all kinds of situations. And if you want to have a list of things that I went through, maybe not. But I love going on trips with students in general because it's a lovely way of bonding and growing together again.
Myles FinnAnd it teaches you some like I mean, like the Unity trip alone teaches you some very interesting things that you wouldn't necessarily get in a classroom setting.
Martina SalluzzoAbsolutely, yeah.
Myles FinnThat's great. Uh coffee, tea, or something else entirely.
Martina SalluzzoWell, for the morning it's coffee over tea, but for a late afternoon, a good glass of red wine would also work quite well. Or an apparol when I go and yeah.
Myles FinnAmazing. Love it. Uh if your job had a theme song, what would your theme song be? All I need is love. Sure. All I need is love. Da-da-da-da-da. We would do that one. Yeah, that would that would be great. Do you have one that's not that, or is that the would that be the one you pick?
Martina SalluzzoOkay, well, with my students, they uh I ask them what's the song you like, and they always say the song that sticks to us is Oh Champs-Élysées, just because of the rhythm. So uh I would still say it's a French song and we'll sing Oh Champs Élysées, paradada, oh Champs Élysées. Yeah. We'll go to Paris. I can't take them to Paris this year, but um our heart is always somewhere on the streets of Paris as well.
Myles FinnAs as it should be. Uh, are you currently reading or watching anything?
Martina SalluzzoWell, I have just finished reading a book that I actually recommended to some friends. It's called uh uh Travel to Issa. Issa is a Greek name for Island of East, talks about beginnings of the islands of East. It's like, you know, history and islands and everything I like. But as time as to what I'm watching, I my goal is to see all the Oscar nominated movies. Oh, yeah. And uh I know that usually right after Oscars they have a special series and special stuff. So I will be watching, I'll be looking to see the nominated movies. I'm a movie fan.
Myles FinnAmazing. We used to uh my brother's birthday always kind of like fell around the time that the Oscar nominated short films would be in theater, and so we would go and we would spend like an entire Saturday, because I mean it this ends up being four or five hours long of just like sitting in a theater watching all this happening, but you can watch all of the short films in one long sitting. Okay. And that was so fun.
Martina SalluzzoCool.
Myles FinnHave you how many of the Oscar how many of the nominated ones have you watched?
Martina SalluzzoUh well, not many.
Myles FinnYeah. There's some incredible films.
Martina SalluzzoYes, I know. And I don't want to also watch them hastily when I I want to like have the experience.
Myles FinnLet him let it breathe a little bit.
Martina SalluzzoAnd uh my husband and I like going to the cinema to see them. We don't like, I mean, yeah, we watch them on Netflix. We watch films uh at home as well, but but we actually like going to the movies. We met in film class, so that's our our our things that also brings us together. We we often go to cinemas.
Myles FinnI love that. Um, a recommendation for you Project Hail Mary is coming out. Did you read the Project Hail Mary book?
Martina SalluzzoNo, I have not.
Myles FinnSo it's in it's incredible about a science teacher, so it's relevant to us, obviously. But um very s I I love sci-fi. I love space, I love all of that, and this this one coming out has that, but an incredible drama behind the story as well. So highly recommend it. I'm I'm super excited. I think it comes out this week, which is fun.
Martina SalluzzoOkay.
Myles FinnAnd then your last one is what is something that instantly makes the school day better for you?
Martina SalluzzoUh smiling faces of my colleagues. And then when my kids walk in and ask me, like, do you have something for us? And I actually bring, I try to feed them in the morning. I I I got a certificate for teacher who feeds us.
Myles FinnThat's well deserved. I love that. Uh any final tidbits or anything that you want to leave with the audience? Any like closing messages or anything?
Martina SalluzzoOkay. I what I want to say is that uh we work in a beautiful school with uh great colleagues, and I'm actually very grateful to have all my wonderful colleagues uh with us, and uh I hope that we keep uh bringing good people into this world.
Myles FinnI think we will. I think we're on the right track for that for sure. Cool. Well, thank you so much for being on. I appreciate it.
Martina SalluzzoThank you. Bye.