This topic reminds me of the places DH and I lived and the neighbors we've had...  When I was 19-20 we lived in LA and we had some Mexican neighbors (OK we had alot of them, but the ones across/below us inparticular) and my DD called their kids her "spanish friends" because they spoke Spanish in their home.  There was a whole troop of kids, ranging in age from ?in pull-ups still? (I think 2 or 3) up to 11.  DD was 3-4 at the time, and we would go down to their apartment and the oldest daughter (7 yrs old) would translate for her mom and I to talk.  One time the mom showed me how to make chili rellenos.  She taught me about buying from "a REAL mexican market", not the reg. grocery store.  As I spent more time there, I got to see that the eldest mother living there bore alot of responsibility.  There was at least 3 families living there, in a 2 bdrm apartment.  They would roll out sleeping bags at night, share beds, and there were even mattresses lining either side of the garage.  The younger married couples were working and going to school and the eldest mom I spoke of schooled all the children at home when school wasn't in session over the summer.  Sometimes they couldn't come play until they were done "writing their English" (penmanship basically - lined paper with rows and rows of letters to trace and copy).  They were just trying to make a better future for their children.  We never told on them for having so many people living there, and they were there for the whole 2 years we were.  The loud mariachi music was only ever in the daytime, and sometimes I sort of miss it.  The kids would be out in the alley after dinner playing soccer, and my DD and I would go play with them.