Had the same experience. While living in Jerusalem, I was studying Hebrew, but i consciously decided to stay active around Arabic, and later on I realized that I was able to understand so much, before attending my first Arabic class.! But when I was in the Netherlands after 48 hours my brain stopped trying to get Dutch ;P
Tell yourself you're a learner.
Had the same experience. While living in Jerusalem, I was studying Hebrew, but i consciously decided to stay active around Arabic, and later on I realized that I was able to understand so much, before attending my first Arabic class.! But when I was in the Netherlands after 48 hours my brain stopped trying to get Dutch ;P