Strange Albany

So, we have been here for about a week (not counting our trip back 'home') and we are starting to find our way around. A few things are very strange though.

I have mentioned before that the grocery shopping situation is awful...no Wegmans or Tops. So far we have tried Price Chopper (really expensive) and Hannafords (really small). The one thing that they had in common, was that they expect you to bag your own groceries. All the cashier does is scan them and send them down the belt to the back counter area so you can bag them yourself.

Another really strange thing here is the garbage. We knew coming in that we would have to arrange our own garbage service, as not many places have government pick-up like Buffalo. What we did not realize is how expensive it is. The alternative, mentioned by the people we bought our house from, is to take the garbage to the dump yourself. This is what they did and said most of our neighbors do. It costs $1 a can to dump off regular trash. So on Saturday we loaded up the SUV and drove to the dump. For a total of $2 we got rid of three cans and all of our packaging boxes from the move. Very strange and inconvenient but cheaper in the long run.