image via voices.com

“If you want some paid work doing some voice over reading for an English textbook, call Dan [number redacted]. He needs a female today.”

The day after I saw that text, I took the subway out to a residential area in western Beijing, then a car took me to a brand-new, concrete apartment complex, with a dozen or so sandy-colored buildings surrounding a seedling-filled garden. I took the elevator to the fifth floor, then stepped into a dusty, bare apartment.

Dan led me into the recording space, a small bedroom with flower-printed yoga mats hanging from the walls and windows.  I sat down at the table in front of 316 pages of dialogues from “Study Abroad in UK.”

The book included gems like these:

“Let’s buy cereals to make porridge. Porridge is not only nutritious but also very cheap. We can make sweet porridge with millet and salty porridge with meat. It is very good for health.”

“During my study in UK, I want to visit many European countries, like Spain, Italy, Austria, and Claudia.”

He asked me to correct grammar mistakes in the text, but it soon became clear that he didn’t have the patience or power within this anonymous textbook publishing company to answer critical questions like, “Is Claudia really a country?”

I read all of the lines assigned to female characters in my chirpiest English teacher voice. A British man with a slow monotone had been there a few days before, and Dan later mixed my voice with his.

For 156 minutes of talking to a microphone in that padded room, I earned 400 RMB (about $60). Not bad, but I know that my friends who do this for a living earn many times more. Then I stepped out into this sulfur-smelling corner of southwest Beijing, and continued my Tuesday adventures.

Do you have any good stories about odd jobs? Please do tell!