"Our heart is with our American friends"

I was 8 at the time. I went to an English school in Portugal, and the first time we noticed something was wrong was when our teacher was called out of the classroom in the afternoon. A few minutes after, all the students (we were only 22, 5 in my class including myself) were took to our canteen/gym where the teachers had put a television. We all sat down in front of it and watched the footage that had been playing over and over again, as if it were trying to convince us all of what was happening. Us children didn't realise the extense of what all those explosions and fires were having world wide.
Half an hour later they sent us home. I remeber it quite well, I wanted to watch my cartoons but they weren't on the television. And it was no delay, they had been canceled. Instead, those towers were on the screen. And the planes. And they didn't leave it until my bed time came.
The morning after we went to school. We all sat down on our desks, when the teacher came in and took us to the garden. The other classes were all there too. They lined us up and took us outside by the road, where cars and cars were passing by. The headmaster came with a huge placard, large enough for every student and every teacher to hold. In it the following sentence was written as well as the flags of the UK, USA and Portugal and our school's symbol: "Our heart is with our American friends". It was. And we stood there for 15 minutes, and no one talked, and everyone was quiet.
Our heart is still with you today, as will always. Whether we are in Portugal, the UK or any other country. Humanity is with you.