Seeing things upside-down is normal with an astronomical telescope. You have to take that into account when pointing.
Sounds like you have at least four other distinct problems here:
1) You don't know how to align your equatorial mount.
For someone just starting out, you don't have to do this precisely, just enough so it doesn't get in your way too much. First, adjust the tilt of the polar axis to match your latitude. If you live at 40 degrees north, you want your polar axis to be tilted 40 degrees up from horizontal. Then, turn the mount so the upward-tilted part of the polar axis points north. Again, your first few times out with the telescope you won't need to get this precisely right. You should find that if the polar axis is correctly aligned, it should point near (although not precisely at) the North Star. (This assumes you live north of the equator; if you live south of the equator, you'll want the up-tilted part to point south).
2) You don't know how to use an equatorial mount.
It is tricky to use a German equatorial mount (like the one in the picture) on objects near the meridian (the imaginary line connecting the north and south poles in your sky) since as you move the telescope around, it will need to swap places with your counterweight. This just takes getting used to.
3) You don't know how to align your finderscope.
It is actually easiest to do this during the day. Select the lowest power eyepiece you have (the one with the biggest lens will be lowest power-- don't use a barlow if they gave you one). Point the telescope at a distant, but distinctive, terrestrial object on the horizon. A tall tree sticking up, a church steeple, a smoke stack, something like that. Do this just by sweeping the telescope along the horizon line while looking through the low-power eyepiece. Adjust the focus on the eyepiece so distant objects appear sharp. When you have your target centered in the eyepiece, leave the telescope there (the telescope should stay where you point it if it is balanced properly; if the telescope wants to move around, you might try locking the axes--make sure to unlock them again when you want to move the telescope). Then look through the finder scope-- you may have to adjust the focus on the finderscope. Be very gentle with the finderscope, you don't want to move the telescope around. You should be able to see your target through the finderscope. Loosening and tightening the screws on the finder mount will change the aim of the finder slightly. You want to adjust the finder aim until the finder crosshairs are on your target. Then doublecheck that the target is still centered in the eyepiece.
4) You don't know how to use your finderscope.
When the finderscope is properly aligned, you can use it to point the telescope. Center the target you want to look at in the finder cross hairs. It should appear somewhere in the view of the telescope through the low power eyepiece. Again, it is easiest to practice this during the day on distant terrestrial objects on the horizon, before you start looking for the moon and planets at night.