The View From Overseas

— -- While the events of Sept. 11 unfolded, thousands of Americans living abroad were sharing the nation's collective horror, shock and grief. Here, some "expats" describe — in their own words — what it was like to be time zones away when the World Trade Center and Pentagon were attacked.

BERLIN, GERMANY

Disbelief and disconnect. These were the first words that scurried across thebrain as the World Trade Center crumbled. Television transmitted terror acrosscontinents in only a matter of seconds. It was the mind that took hours tocatch up.

TOKYO, JAPAN

All the reports were unnerving: 300 firefighters missing, peoplejumping out of windows, and all those poor people on the airplanes, flown totheir deaths. I kept wishing it was all just a bad dream.

SAME VILLAGE, MANUFAHI DISTRICT EAST TIMOR

MICK- Ya, we need to go find out what's going on.

SULLY- I hope to God my sister wasn't on one of those planes...I know she wasn't, but....I don't know...all those people.

MICK- Thousands....everybody.

SINGAPORE

There have been two times when I've been singled out as an American in Singapore. One was during the past presidential election debacle, when I found myself struggling to educate coworkers on the historical significance and justification for the electoral college, the second was the day after the attacks on the World Trade Center.

PAPUA, NEW GUINEA

I feel very helpless because I am literally on the other side of the worldand can do very little to help the city. Conversations with friends andrelatives via telephone and e-mail frighten me. The nation seems jitteryand many folks have admitted to me that they believe more attacks are on theway.