Leilani with her College friends
Siblings with Lola and Lolo
Leilani Puntanar was born on May 1 1971 in Quezon City. Growing up, she lived in
a pretty big house (for Philippine standards) with her mum, dad, grandparents–on
her dad's side–and her 2 brothers and 2 sisters.
She liked singing, drawing and other arts like me. Unlike me, she didn’t like reading
unless she absolutely had to, but she liked reading comics because of the pictures.
When she wasn't studying, she was selling food and drinks outside of their house.
Memories
My mum's earliest memories were of when she was playing at a beach. One of her
fondest memories of her Lola was how she would always made them take a nap
after lunch. My mum likes wearing flowing dresses because her Lola liked them.
My cousins
Relatives in America
Zshynors Vargas was born on November 22 1977. He lived with his sisters and his mum.
His father was half spanish (hence the surname Vargas).
He played lots of basketball and taught himself how to play guitar. We still have his
first guitar at home. He was actually the one who taught me how to play!
My mum and dad met at a restaurant that he worked at in the Philippines.
He served her iced tea (best way to get any person's love is through food!).
It's really ironic since he actually doesn't like iced tea even though my mum does.
Before coming to New Zealand, he worked at a restaurant in Macau.
Lydia Bunag was born on March 1 1951 in Quezon City. She lived in a
2 story house with her 8 siblings and her parents. They had a retail
store just by their house which she managed in her spare time. She
didn’t really do many things because it was really important to have
all of her focus on studying.
She was the 5th born child so all of her elder siblings did everything
so she didn’t cook or clean. This really surprised me because she is
really good at cooking now and she makes the best Filipino dishes.
Fun little fact:
She married Redynaldo Puntanar
in 1969. In 2019, they celebrated
their 50th anniversary!
My grandma is very Catholic. She went to a Catholic school so her
children went to a Catholic school too. My mum then passed that
onto my siblings and I. My uncle Armin started a prayer group
where I do my service. My cousin Raewen and I play piano and
guitar respectively for the music ministry and take care of the kids.
Lydia and Reynaldo with their children
My mum arrived in NZ on January 25 2008
with my brother Darren. They came to visit
my uncle and his family who lived here, but
she soon found a job. The year later, my
dad and I followed. When my cousin
Raewen was born in 2003, my grandma
came to visit NZ a lot. 10 years later,
my grandparents permanently moved to NZ.
Family in NZ
Thoughts
My family says that the first thing they
noticed is that the weather is colder here
than in the Philippines. For my parents,
the biggest difference is in the Philippines
you work 6 days in a week and you need
to travel more than 2 hours going to work and
then 2 hours back home. In NZ there is
less travel time so they can spend more time
with family and resting. Branded clothes
are very expensive so they always bought
clothes in the flea markets in the Philippines.
Everything is so expensive because the
salary they got was not enough to buy what
they needed, let alone things they wanted.
Even though it's more expensive in NZ, you
earn more money so you can buy things you.
My grandma learnt how to take care of
children in New Zealand. She took care of my
siblings and my cousins here in NZ. She hates
the cold so thats the only thing she dislikes
about NZ. She thinks it's boring in here
because when everyone is out of the house at
school or work, she is left alone at
home because she doesn't have work.