hi im foreign

I feel like my ability to understand German spoken by real life Germans has improved significantly since I've arrived here in Deutschland just 2 weeks ago...now, instead of having a completely blank look on my face anytime anyone talks to me as i try to distinguish words from one another, i have a look of intense concentration as i try to guess either 1) what all those words could possible mean when used in such a construction or 2) how to form sentences to respond to what has just been said (or what i hope has just been said). Germans react to this look in many different way. There's of course the classic lemme-switch-to-English technique...used by most Germans who can speak English, and, unfortunately, used by most Germans who can't. For the less perceptive natives, there's the option of rambling in German for five minutes while I stand there smiling and nodding and trying to walk away. The third and final option is what one guy did to me in the t-mobil store last Saturday: literally look you up and down and say "oh you're not from here," and walk away.