Job Discussion Forums

nomadder · Posted: Fri Jan 09, 2004 11:32 pm Post subject: Where Were You on....

September 11, 2001?

I was at a snack(Cheers style bar) in Japan. I usually didn't make the bike hike downtown on weeknight but there was a guy working there who I was interested in. The place was empty and the owner got a call to tune in to a certain TV channel. We watched the first plane hit the first building and I thought that it must be a terrible accident. Then came the second plane and I knew it had to be some nefarious plan.

I had a flight booked for less than 2 weeks later to Seoul. I heard I could cancel and a complete refund but I decided to go. Ironically it was my first time to fly on an American airline. My plans to visit the DMZ(demilitarized zone) were out but everything else was OK. I later heard there may have been a plot on another flight to Korea around that time. Korea did have target potential-large American military presence and N.Korea nearby.

I think the effects of that terrible day weren't so strong for me as some fellow Canadians at home described since I was so far away. Planes were grounded and fears were stronger due to the proximity.

johnslat · Posted: Sat Jan 10, 2004 12:10 am Post subject: You never forget

I was on my way to an evening class in in Riyadh. As I approached the IPA building, a Saudi colleague came up and told me what had happened. At first I though he was making some kind of sick joke, but then I noticed the guy was almost in tears. In fact, he began to cry right after that, which convinced me he was serious. I went numb; that's the best way I can describe it. Then I went in and "sleepwalked" through 2 hours of something; I think it was grammar, but I don't really remember what I taught.
Being a geezer, I later on thought of the day JFK got killed in Dallas. My reaction to both events was, I think, pretty much the same: incredulity followed by a stunned daze which lasted for hours. And after that, the great sorrow.
Regards,
John

Lynn · Joined: 28 Jan 2003 Posts: 696 Location: in between

I was hoping this wouldn't be about 9-11 when I saw the title. Crying or Very sad

(I'm not offending or anything. I know it's very theraputic for some people to post about this and that's okay)

lajzar · Joined: 09 Feb 2003 Posts: 647 Location: Saitama-ken, Japan

I was at home, about to go to an employment agency. My mumn was watching TV as it was happening, and I happened to see it. My first thought was that this would definitely kill my chances of getting a date within the next year (I look midlde eastern). My next was that politically, teh brown stuff was gonna hit the rotary convector HARD.

Gordon · Joined: 28 Jan 2003 Posts: 5309 Location: Japan

In Vancouver, sleeping and when someone called me and woke me up, I thought it was a joke. I wish.

shmooj · Joined: 11 Sep 2003 Posts: 1758 Location: Seoul, ROK

online...

...and I could not believe what I saw initially

Roger · Joined: 19 Jan 2003 Posts: 9138

Let me think... eleventh of September saw me on that new job that kept me happy for an entire twelve months, so I am sure I had no personal issues on that particular day, only worries about others and their situation.
BUt I distinctly remember opening a German-language website and reading about the "World Trade Center" having been razed to the ground.
I thought: "Where or what is the 'World Trade Center'?"
BUt that was answered pretty quickly. The rest is history.

struelle · Joined: 16 May 2003 Posts: 2372 Location: Shanghai

Wolf · Joined: 10 May 2003 Posts: 1245 Location: Middle Earth

I don't remember. I remember finding out about it the next day when I went into work (I didn't watch TV, or have a computer at the time.)

dreadnought · Joined: 10 Oct 2003 Posts: 82 Location: Sofia, Bulgaria

I was walking through the centre of Vilnius, Lithuania on my way home from work. I saw lots of people crowding around the TVs in outdoor cafes, but I couldn't work out exactly what was going on. All I could see was a lot of smoke and fire, and my initial thought was that the Ignalina nuclear power plant in the north of Lithuania (built by the same clever team that brought you Chernobyl) had exploded.

It was only when I got home and switched on the World Service that I found out what had really happened....

nomadder · Posted: Sat Jan 10, 2004 2:15 pm Post subject:

Little did we know the impact it would have into this century. The walls to entry keep going up. More and more people will have to pay a high price just to visit.

Read that British citizens on a passport dated after Oct. 2004 will have to pay something like $100 for a visa to enter the US. Other countries have similar problems. Now we can't have passports with smiles as they will be digitally scanned. There will be more armed marshalls on flights with bullets that supposed won't penetrate the plan. Some people will be fingerprinted upon entry and it goes on.

I really wonder about the future of international travel especially to the US. Not to mention international relations. Is this the beginning of the fall of the empire?

foster · Joined: 07 Feb 2003 Posts: 485 Location: Honkers, SARS

In Osaka. I had arrived on August 28th and it was the 2nd week of work. A co-worker called us and told us to turn on the TV, which was on, but we thought it was some wierd action film.

Most annoyingly tho, it was CNN being dubbed in Japanese and then translated back in English...so all we heard was "Plane hit World Trade Center" and no real details.

lajzar · Joined: 09 Feb 2003 Posts: 647 Location: Saitama-ken, Japan

Momadder, speaking of travel to the US, have you seen their latest madness? Qantas (and other airlines) have been asked to prevent passengers from forming groups near the toilets as it presents a security risk.

I swear I am not making this up. It's too silly to make up.

ls650 · Joined: 10 May 2003 Posts: 3484 Location: British Columbia

I was camping on Hornby Island, an idyllic little spot off the coast of British Columbia. I woke up in my tent on a beautiful sunny morning, flipped on the radio and heard the story over the radio. I didn't actually see what happened on TV until several hours later.

As soon as I saw video of the planes slamming into the towers I knew the world was going to become an even more screwed-up place - and unfortunately it looks like I was right... Sad

nomadder · Posted: Sat Jan 10, 2004 2:43 pm Post subject:

How right you are Is. Confused