Trouble... :(

Well, my first week at France, could be summed up as "Frustration". Right from arriving at Paris airport, I got an indirect (but clear) message from everyone around: "It's gonna be a hard time here, If you don't know French at all".
Wherever you go, people start talking as fast as French trains, and after a minute of babble, with such strange sounds coming from unknown parts of their mouths (which I am sure I would not be able to produce myself in eons), they realize that I haven't understood a thing ! Then would follow some strange hand-mouth gestures, some acting from both sides, until both gave up...
Well, before coming here, I had learnt by heart, two French sentences - "parlez-vous Anglais?" , and "Je ne parle pas français." .The first, meaning " Do you speak English ?" , was useless, as I always got the answer - "Non !" ( :(:( ). The second (meaning- I can not speak French) just had the effect of doing away with the little circus of gestures and acting that we used to have, before giving up...So this time, it would directly reach a "give-up" state. The only thing I can do smoothly here,is my project work (Thank god for it !), as my advisor understands English well (had to !!).
After about 10 days here, I have started learning some small sentences and words, and hope to learn what I call "Emergency French" soon...But till that time, it's still "Circus Time"...