Nice proverb~

At the close of last semester, I gave my KakaoTalk ID to my second-years so that they could keep in touch over break and (for those graduating early) in college. KakaoTalk is an Instant Messaging program that essentially everyone in Korea uses. When I returned to Korea  few days ago, I found a chat request from SY, one of my favorite students. He's the one who said to me last September, after maybe a week of classes, "Teacher, we will be friend!" Such a cheerful and friendly kid. He wanted to perform at the school festival (which was last week, and I missed it because I was in California), and I have been more or less keeping tabs on his gig's progress throughout the year. And here's an excerpt from our chat.

SY: sir.. my festival performance was failed ㅠㅠ
Me: Oh no! :( What happened?
SY: I was forgot lyric on stage... And sore throat was noncured because nervous, exercise... Oh... terrible...
Me: I'm sorry to hear that... But it happens to everyone! Including me. Chin up! :)
SY: Thank you~ I think this performance will be good experience. But I am inconvenience little bit. ~_~
Me: It is okay to feel that way. "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again." An English proverb.
SY: Nice proverb~ I try again, again, and again... I will become a great musician & scientist. Thank you~ I miss you so much.
Me: That's the spirit! [thumbs-up emoticon]

(By the way, ㅠㅠ is a Korean emoticon for crying. The vowel "ㅠ" is pronounced yu, but the reason it's used in this way is that it looks like closed eyes with tears flowing from them. To help make this clearer... If (ㅡ_ㅡ) is the face of a chubby guy with his eyes closed, then (ㅠ_ㅠ) is a chubby guy crying. And (~_~) is a chubby guy who is just a tad bit miffed. See it?)