Week 2, but really my first week all things considered

okay, well this is my first full week working on mandarin. now I know I said last week that I was going to try to have the basics down. This has prove to be more difficult then I originally thought, the real problem that I am having at the moment with mandarin is this. the tones are really tough to remember and to form. My second dilemma is this, I can use these audio book and sound out the words all I want, but how do I know that I am doing the sounds and tones correctly. So the main thing I need in order to get my speaking abilities to where I need them is a tutor. So I have made contact with a number of different universities and people. now i am waiting for responses and i will go from there.