Kloofendal Nature Reserve

This morning I went for a walk around the Kloofendal Nature Reserve.  It was about a 30 minute drive from my apartment, in the same area as the botanical gardens.  It's still winter here and very dry so the terrain still looks the same as when I went to the gardens, but it is a lot warmer!  The high for today is going to be about 28C.  I think this is a bit warmer than usual for this time of year... I hope so anyway, because if this is winter, I'm not really sure what summer is going to be like.

This morning when I first started my walk, I saw something running ahead of me on the path.  I think it was a duiker or something (a small deer looking thing) but it was too fast and I couldn't take a picture.  Unfortunately that was the only animal other than birds and bugs that I saw today.

I spent about two hours walking around the park and exploring.  There were tons of different paths to take and I'm not sure if I came anywhere close to trying them all.  In the middle of the park there was a gated off area because of open mine shafts.  Apparently you can arrange tours to go in, or so said the signs.  This was where the Struben brothers first discovered gold in this area in the 1880s.  

Lots of rules here, particularly no lying down, no wine spilling, no clothes washing, no selling stuff (that's a common sign here), and no crazy music/TV hybrids.

Crazy dry right now, I think the lake is supposed to be much bigger and that you aren't supposed to be able to use the streams as extra walking paths

Some sort of bird, my sneakiest picture of the day.  Most animals were too quick for me (and I was too loud).

More birds, by the lake.  This was taken from inside a bird watching shack the park had set up by the lake.

Fluffs on a tree

View from one of the many trails I walked.

There was also a stage and open area when first entering the park, but I don't know what kind of stuff they do there.  This park wasn't as liberal with the information as the Botanical Gardens were, but this park was free so I'm not complaining.

LUC Academy

So I'm going to finally post about what I do all day in Africa, particularly at the request of my friends in Ottawa with whom I skyped a couple of weeks ago.  I'm going to try to make it descriptive enough for my non-behavioral friends but not too boring for my behavioral buddies.  Here it goes!

LUC Academy is the name of the center where I work.  It is on the residential property of the parents of one of the students.  They keep regular weekday hours, so I'm at work from 7:30 to 4:30.  There are currently four students who attend the school, between the ages of 4 and 9.  These children have been diagnosed with autism.  There are four therapists apart from myself who work at the school.  We use the principles of applied behavior analysis to teach language and other skills to the students.  We do both discrete trial training at the table and natural environment training when the students are playing.  For those who don't know, discrete trial training involves presenting a demand (such as "What does a dog say?"), the student's response (either correct or incorrect) and then a consequence (either a reinforcer; our students earn tokens which can later be exchanged for toys or activities, or if they were incorrect, we provide a correction).  Also for those who don't know, natural environment training involves following the student to what they find reinforcing, and then creating learning opportunities there (for example, one of our students really likes the sandpit so we ask him questions about the sandpit, have him ask for buckets and shovels, etc.)

I am working with the kids everyday and also supervising the other therapists at the center.  Two of the therapists are also starting their coursework to become Board Certified Assistant Behavior Analysts so I'm specifically supervising their work experience for that purpose as well.  I'm really enjoying my work here and the people I work with!

The school, seen from the front

Inside the school, in the play area part, the children's work areas are on the right

One of the children's work areas (or booths)

Another one of the children's work areas, in a room attached to the garage.

Our office area, where we make coffee, do paperwork, and make materials

Snow in Africa!

Today a cold front hit Joburg and it snowed!  I did not think that it would ever snow here, and definitely not in the city.  It didn't stay on the ground where I work or where I live, but it did in other areas of Joburg.  My coworker kindly sent me some pictures of her house and the snow on the ground there.  She had a snowball fight and said it was her first time playing in the snow.  Another man on the radio on the drive home said it was his first time feeling snow.  When it started snowing at work, being the excellent therapists that we are, we took it as a learning opportunity to teach the kids about snow.  Unfortunately the therapists were far more excited about the snow than the kids and it didn't really snow consistently enough to get the tact really solid (or to be able to deliver it as a reinforcer).  Maybe if it snows again tomorrow!

Snow!  And palm trees!  And my car!

Catherine and Roz in the snow

Evidence.  This is the most that stayed on the ground at work, and it was gone after a few minutes.

Picture of Roz's yard (or garden, as South Africans would say)