Mom's side is easy. Mom comes from Badoc, Ilocos Norte, Philippines. She was born there and came to the United States in the 1970s.

Dad's side is not so easy. I know I have ancestors from the Big Island that I can trace back to Captain Cook's time. He was killed at Kealakekua Bay, the same place my ancestors lived. Centuries later, my great-grandfather left Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan and settled in Hawaii to work in the sugar plantations. So that makes me a YONSEI.