Staring as Polite?

People look you in the eye here... and never stop looking. Granted I tower over everybody and my pastiness gives me away as an outsider, but what I’m referring to is more along the lines general conversation. People never look away. The entire dialogue is had with locked gazes. It was pretty unsettling when I got here and still is to some extent. But the flip side is this non-verbal communication that you have someone’s undivided attention. I still break the gaze all the time and half the time I feel like people are peering down into my soul, but I think with some more practice I might pick up some more skills on what it means to be an undivided listener...