With just over one week until Father’s Day, we continue to introduce you to great dads around the world. Today, it’s Gabriel Almada. Here is his bio and interview:
I’m an Argentine immigrant living in Canada since 2000, with my wife Gabriela (I know!) and my four kids. I travel a lot for business, and whenever I have some free time, I like to spend it watching or coaching my kids while they play soccer.
My first memory as a father is..realizing that I was actually going to be a dad, something I had never thought it was going to happen to me! I’ve had several jobs in my life, but being a dad is my favourite and the only one I actually hope I’m good at.
The funniest thing my kids do is…quoting an entire scene from a movie, even assuming different roles, just from a random word said at -let’s say- the dinner table. Sometimes I do that on purpose, but I was disappointed when I said “you’re killing me, Smalls” and I had no reaction.
What’s in your man cave? I don’t have a man cave, maybe when we move in a few days. My wife won’t even let me have a mini-fridge beside my bed (instead of an end table) or in the bathroom. She just doesn’t understand my need of always having a can of pop within reach.
My wife is my hero because…she’s there for me all the time, everytime, no matter what. She is the one who will pick me up when I’m down, and believe me, that’s not an easy task. She took care of me for months, after I broke my hip in a car accident and was bedridden. She had a fractured wrist and… a six month pregnancy. Not a problem for her! Amazing woman.
How many hours of sleep do you get each night? I get five hours of sleep at most. Not because “I don’t need more than that”, but because I just can’t sleep.
How many hours of sleep did you get before you became a father? Well, let’s say that has not changed much. It was a good thing when the kids were little. I was in charge of taking care every cry or call until 3AM, and then my wife would take over until 7AM.
What did you get your baby’s Mama for Mother’s Day? Flowers, as usual. But I didn’t give them to her, just left them there so she would find them. I may have partially funded some of the kids’ gifts as well. OK, all of the gifts. OK, funded entirely.
If you your wife could vacation without your kids, where would you go? I took Gaby to Puerto Rico for five days last year, for our 20th anniversary and we had a great time. I’m taking her to Buzios, Brazil for our 25th (that’s where we went for our honeymoon). I’d love to take her to Austria, because that’s her dream. Order your Flughafentaxi Wien online to make your Vienna tour easier.
If you could go on any vacation with your kids, where would you go? Universal Studios / Disney. It frustrates me that my kids grew up and I was never able to afford taking them there.
What’s your favorite meal? My wife’s homemade veal schnitzels with mashed potatoes or with fries ‘on a horse’ (Argentine term that means ‘with two fried eggs on top’, who knows why?)
What’s your favorite meal to cook for your kids? I am not a great cook, but the kids love the stuff I make because… I cook ‘like’ a kid. The meals I make are simple, but flavourful, and I use ingredients every kid likes. My favourite one is what we call ‘cowboy food’ and it’s a stew with rice, ground beef, peas, beans, and other ingredients. When they were little, we would sit on the floor as if we were at a campfire, and eat right from the pan, with a big piece of bread and making a lot of noise… ‘like cowboys do’. 🙂
How are you like your own dad? I didn’t live with my dad growing up, as my parents got divorced when I was six. Even more, I moved to Buenos Aires at age 11, so I would see my father for a weekend every month or so, and then a few weeks during the summer. We always had a good relationship, but he wasn’t part of my everyday life. A few years back, my father came to visit us and stayed with us for over a month, thanks to my older brother who invited him and his wife. It was an awesome time for me, because I got to re-discover and get to know my father again, this time as an adult. That’s when I realized how much alike we were, (almost) always in a good mood, singing all the time, making silly jokes to make others laugh and living our lives through our kids’ eyes. Like he did with me, I constantly praise my kids and always find the time to tell them how proud I am of them.
I will cherish that month and a half I got to spend with my dad at home forever, and I will never stop thanking my older brother for making that possible. That was the last time I saw him, because he died less than a year later. Even though we would go without seeing each other for years, he was always on the other side of the line. I miss him very much.
If fatherhood was a beer, which type of beer would it be and why? I don’t drink, so I will be a little generic here. I would like to compare fatherhood with a locally brewed beer, because resources are scarce, budget is very limited, the customer base is very small but demanding and you cannot survive if you don’t rely on the people around you.
Describe your perfect Father’s Day. Getting up in the morning and not having to get in the car and drive 3 hours to a soccer game, so I can enjoy breakfast in bed. Having my wife and my kids around me, but with no gifts. Just a hug and a note telling me that they love me and what’s the best thing I have ever done for them. I can’t really ask for more!
Make sure you head over and check out Gabriel’s blog, and follow him on Facebook and Twitter.