Tristan, Christchurch, New Zealand

“ 30 is just a number, a number and a word… I may be a little bit aged… but not really!”

Name :  Tristan Schmahl

Gender :  Male

DoB :  20.10.1984

City of Birth : Adelaide, Australia

Status :  Single

Family :  1 sister 35yo

Hometown :  Christchurch, Australia

Education : Highschool

Job :  Construction worker

Religion :  –

Politics :  Center Right

As a child… How would you picture yourself at 30?

JOB – How did you decide to do this job?

When I was young, I wanted to be rubbish truck driver! It was my dream job and I got it! I remember that my grandmother used to joke me and say that if I did not watch out some day I’ll be picking up others garbage. Well I thought it was not that bad and someone has to do it! A few years ago I got the job and it was fun, I kept it for about 2 years. I think it is a rewarding from and that it will be a sad day when robots will clean after us.

By now, I thought I would be dead! Probably because of indications from family members of friends…

HOME / PLACE OF LIVING – Where you thought we would be living by now?

I thought I would be dead! Probably because of indications from family members of friends… Everything started from my birth. I was born underweight in the middle of a very hot summer in Adelaide (Australia),so it was a bit of a miracle that I made it. Then when I started growing up, my parents always told me I was clumsy, I was often involved in accidents, did not catch on as fast as the others.
Then the drugs came along… I think I considered death but did not really want to die…

Tristan riding a signalization sheep in the center of Christchurch.

Tristan lives in this small house a few minutes outside the center of Christchurch.

Striking and memorable events…

IN YOUR PERSONAL LIFE – What are the most memorable event of your personal life?

Once, when I was 24, I hitched from Phanang (where my parents live) to Auckland (where I was living at the time) in 7 hours. I had quite a big fight with my family, I bailed, without money and nowhere to go. Y? I do not know why I did it, Booze I guess…. It is not a nice memory but it was the start of a new chapter of my life…. Depression… I was kind of lost, did not really know what I wanted to do in life, was living at friend’s houses and had an unstable situation/

IN THE WORLD – What are the main events that stroke the world you are living in?

I have to admit that these natural events leave me a bit detached… maybe because I am down here sheltered in this little island in the end of the world (New Zealand). But actually even the Christchurch earthquake that happened a few years ago did not really affected me, even tough I knew people living there… Well it sucks but… it was still far away from where I was living (Auckland).

The biggest even for me would have to be 9/11. For some reason I just felt that something important happened. I was around 18, 5am, I picked up my newspaper, and read about it… And I could not believe my eyes and even wondered if it was April’s fools! After all that have been said, I still think there is something very strange… 2 buildings fall down and finger blamed at an ethnicity of people.
This affected me because it looked like as if I had to pick a side! Am I on the side of the good guys? Cause all what happened did not seemed good at all…

BEST MEMORY – What is your best memory? I am thinking about an old and funny memory. I was 8 years old, going downhill to school on my bike, not paying attention and smacking another kid on his bike going in the opposite direction…. Why it’s the best? Because I still find it hilarious today and cannot understand how it happened!!!

GREATEST ACHIEVEMENT – I am proud that I accept people how they are: sexual preference, ethnicity. Whether they show me love, kindness or hatred, I try to be as accepting and respectful as possible.

Looking back / Reviewing expectations

10 YEARS AGO, I just had lost my finger and was scared…. It happened in 2002 in an Aluminum foundry. At the time I was smoking a lot of weed. Drinking occasionally, running around doing stupid stuff… getting problems with the cops. So maybe I thought I would be in jail… and it did happen eventually but only for short periods of time (possession of weed, drinking in public, driving under influence of drugs, driving as disqualified).

Nevertheless, If not 6 feet under or deceased in some way, I imagined myself in some kind of family life… Finding some lovely girl, getting her pregnant, going shopping,  I would not go as far as having a dog but this kind of normal life, that sort of thing…

TODAY, I consider myself as a lucky man… I am a free man and I made it through… I moved to Christchurch to have a fresh start… I picked this city because there is a lot of work here for someone with my skills. mainly due to the reconstruction post earthquake. This fresh start means a lot to me and I aim at being an honest person, not only emotionally but physically. Being a proper citizen, voting every 4 years, and just trying to make it go.

Tristan having a beer with some friends.

6 am : Tristan is having a quick breakfast before going to work.

30 years old, a turning point?

WHAT’S NEW? – Did you notice some changes since you are 30 YO?

  It’s just a number, a number and a word… I may be a little bit aged… but not really! I never really celebrate birthday because I celebrate everyday. I do not think that it is my age, but the passage of time that brought me here in Christchurch for this new start.

If I could… I don’t know if this would make any difference, but I would take back the very first thing I ever stole. And every thing after that….

OLD OR YOUNG? – Do you feel « old » or « still young »? I still feel young.  Even if sometimes I look at myself in the mirror and tell myself, god what is happening to my body. I probably have the lungs of a 50 or 60 year old but my heart still feels pretty strong.
I am in kind of a relationship with this girl who is 19, I think we want the sale things from life… so I would say I am pretty young in my head!
Moreover, the fact that I am the younger son in my family (“the baby”), may explain why I have this feeling.

CHANGES OR REGRETS? What are the things you would like to change? If I could… I don’t know if this would make any difference, but I would take back the very first thing I ever stole. And every thing after that…. And I remember what it was… I remember the first 3 things I stole actually. The first happened when I was around 7, I was selling lollies door to door for a charity, I did not do very well that day and on the way home I stole 4 dollars… which was stupid cause they noticed right away, did not pay me and told me not to come back. The second was a wristband that I stole from my bad, I used it at school pretending I was a boxer… and got into a fight, this event ruined my young life, and my sister’s too because she was at the same school… The third was also a wristband that I stole from my sister.

My Values

My Typical day

And tomorrow?

YOUR STORY IN 10 YEARS – What is the story you want to tell within 10 years? I would really like to say that I would be doing something that I love. Trucking…. Or in the landscaping business… Beind the driver and working on labor, gardening in some 20 million dollar houses ☺

I see myself living in NZ or Australia, being with a nice girl, I really hope we will make it with Phoebe, the girl I am with.

THE WORLD IN 10 YEARS – How do you imagine the world you will be living in within 10 years?

NZ : In these crazy times when all these things happen throughout the world, I would be really happy if NZ could remain as much fish bowl as it is. And I think it would be something I would be really proud of.
I said I was proud of being very tolerant but I think NZ is like that and I hope it will remain like it is. If I think about some changes, I would say the greens will take power because it is in the air.

World : It’s looking pretty rough to me. There are a lot of places where people are suffering and much more now than 10/20 yeas ago, so It is getting worse… Russia seems keen on expanding its borders…. There are problems in Syria, Israel and many Arabic countries….
All these issues with people obsessed with the idea of “one true god” who decided to massacre a few people to prove a point is really scaring me. Like what happened in Australia or Paris a few weeks ago.

Fears and Dreams…

FEARS – What are you afraid of?  I am afraid of commitment because it means I’ll have to be working at whatever I would be doing… I think I am also afraid of being vulnerable… because it means opening out my feelings to someone and telling about the true me.

ACHIEVEMENTS – What are the things you want to achieve? Go to Switzerland… even if just to visit… the Alps… I have heard a lot about Switzerland, even that they may be a bit weird but the idea of going there excites me so much!

DREAMS – What is your craziest dreams?  I have been thinking a lot about this one ☺ Here are the 3 things steps of this dream:
1) I win 100 million dollars at the lottery.
2) I adopt 6 children, 3 Russian girls, and 3 Polish boys, because in my mind in these countries there are needy children that I could help.
3) We all move them to Switzerland, and we would live in this very nice Swiss villa. We would not talk to anyone else and I would teach them everything I think they would need to know in life to live the way they want.

More pictures…