The language: One week

Today marks one week with my family. When I arrived last Sunday even simple sentences that I knew confused me because of the accent. Instead of automatically listening I had to learn to concentrate when someone said something to me, and try to listen even when I wasn't being adressed. After listening for a while my brain begins to shut down, and I have to force myself to keep paying attention
My vocabulary has not multiplied, but I am much better than I was. I can take apart a sentence into individual words and pick out those I know. At this point if something is said clearly with simple words I can recognize half of them, and usually grasp the meaning. I've also become better at interpreting the meaning based on context and the person's body language.
I see learning the language as parallel to getting used to the 24 hour clock which is used in France. Right now if I see that it is 16:00, I have to absorb the number, quickly subtract 12, and equate that with 4:00pm. As the year goes on I will immediately know that 16 means 4, and then eventually not think about 4 at all.
At this point, I read or listen to a word, figure out what it means in english, and then absorb that meaning. By the end of the program I should be able to absorb the meaning as I hear or read, without any english involved.
I use my hands frequently when I talk, and automatically display more emotion on my face than normal. Also, I've picked up on the french habit of pushing air out from behind my lips to convey emotion. The simple sound doesn't require correct grammar.
In the first three days I was worried that I wasn't making any progress, but looking back, I see a definite shift. My grammatically correct sentences are still few and far between, but I'm sure I'll continue to progress as time goes by.