Blaine Story

Morningside College professor meets wife on bus tour while living in Chile

Some call it fate, while others a coincidence…either way, a tour of wooden churches in Chile brought a Morningside College professor and his wife together.

Patrick Blaine teaches Spanish at Morningside College and has been traveling the globe since his college years at the University of Iowa.

Blaine has visited almost 20 different countries, his longest stay being in Chile where he lived from about 2000-2003.  He got the opportunity to be a translator and teacher which is one reason he stayed there for as long as he did.

Another reason being a girl. Not just any girl, but his then, future wife and now, current. Chile being a big tourist country, they have many different bus tours people are able to take. One particular day, Blaine wanted to go on one, but the certain one he wanted was full, so he opted for a tour of old, wooden churches. This is the tour that brought him to Monica.

Monica was born and raised in Chile, but Blaine being fluent in Spanish, could still easily communicate with her. The tour was somewhere around February 7th (Blaine admitted he couldn’t remember exactly) and they went on their first date on Valentine’s Day where they saw the movie “Unbreakable”. From there, the relationship took off.

Monica’s family was not always keen on the idea of her having a foreign boyfriend. Blaine explained that Latin American families are super close and bringing a foreigner into her life was no easy task.

Blaine included what some of her older, male relatives told him: “We’ll kill you and make it look like an accident.”  Her parents were cautious at first, but after so long, they realized his intentions were good and he wanted a lasting relationship with their daughter.

As for their life together now, they are living in Sioux City, Iowa with a nine-month old son, Sebastian. Monica is a licensed social worker that works with catholic charities around the community. Blaine admits that they have thought about moving to Chile so that Monica could be closer to her family, but all decisions are based on their kid. While moving there isn’t quite an option yet, they try to visit every three years to reconnect with her family.